The Malaysian FA (FAM) has finalised the 23-man Malaysia U18 squad list for the U18 AFF Championship, which will take place from 4 to 17 September.
In this list, only three players are registered as senior players with their respective clubs; Felcra FC’s Ammar Akhmall Alias in the FAM Cup, and Johor Darul Ta’zim II’s Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak and Perlis’ Zafuan Azeman in the Premier League. The rest compete in the junior competitions President’s Cup and the Youth Cup with their respective clubs.
The biggest contributor to the squad comes from Premier League side Kuala Lumpur’s youth programme; which has five members in the final squad.
The squad has departed for Yangon on Saturday afternoon from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
This year’s competition will be held in Yangon, Myanmar and the Young Tigers will be led by head coach Bojan Hodak. He will be assisted by Nenad Bacina and former Malaysia international Hairuddin Omar.
Malaysia have been drawn in Group A alongside 2016 runners up Thailand, Timor Leste, Laos, Cambodia and Singapore.
Meanwhile Group B will be contested by Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, hosts Myanmar and invitational team New Zealand. 2016 champions Australia will not take part in this year’s edition.
The top two teams from each group will meet in the single-legged semi-final stage, and the winners in the semis will meet in the final match. In the previous edition, Malaysia’s campaign ended in the group stage, finishing third in Group A behind Vietnam and Timor Leste.
Malaysia’s campaign will begin against Laos on 4.30pm Malaysian time September 4 at the Aung San Stadium. They will then face Singapore (September 6), Timor Leste (8), Cambodia (10), and Thailand (12).
