A YEAR’S EXTENSION FOR SATHIA

The decision was made yesterday when the FAM National Team Committee which met under the chairmanship of His Royal Highness Sultan Ahmad Shah, the president of the Malaysian football body.

“The National Team Committee has decided to extend Sathia’s contract for another year,” said Sultan Ahmad.

“Malaysia will play in the Asian Cup qualifiers next month, so it is difficult to find a new coach for the time being.

“But we will form a new sub-committee which will be led by Khairy Jamaluddin (the deputy president of the FAM) to evaluate the continued progress of the national team and the coach.”

Sultan Ahmad added that the Malaysian national body will also initiate more work on the development of players and since the work is in progress, he wants Sathia to put in more effort into it.

“Dato’ Soh (Chin Aun) had also submitted a report on the national team failure and the Committee will look into all the elements. If need be, we might even change the whole football structure to make the national team more competitive,” added Sultan Ahmad.

In as far as the preparation for the SEA Games which will be held in Laos in 2009 is concerned, the FAM is planning to appoint a new coach to guide the team.