BANGI: The RM15 million allocation for the Under-18 and Under-13 Harimau Malaya Team cannot be spent arbitrarily or for salary payments, said Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.
She said the allocation is specifically to get coaches to strengthen the Harimau Malaya squad and the relevant teams.
Accordingly, she said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) will monitor the use of the allocation to the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
“We are waiting for FAM to discuss with the National Sports Council (MSN) how to spend the RM15 million and it will be monitored by KBS and KBS.
“It is for FAM to spend as it likes, not for salary payments but specifically for coaches to strengthen the Harimau Malaya squad, the national team and the junior team,“ she said at a press conference after the 19th ILKBS Convocation Ceremony at the Bangi Avenue Convention Center in here today.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim when tabling Budget 2025 yesterday announced an allocation of RM15 million to support the development of national football.
An allocation of more than RM230 million was also made to cover the podium programme, training and the Road to Gold (RTG) programme as well as preparing para-athletes for the World Para Games including the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics.
Hannah said the allocation would be spent on grassroots development as well as the empowerment of high-performance athletes including sports development programmes such as football, hockey, rugby and netball.
“We also don’t want to lose athletes and depend on only a few athletes, therefore we need to expand at the grassroots level. We already have a sports development committee at the MSN level that has started looking into this.
“For RTG we are currently looking into it, the (RTG) committee will meet to discuss it,” she said.
Hannah said the national professional men’s doubles Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, now ranked the 10th best in the world, are eligible to participate in the RTG programme and the the matter will be finalised at the committee meeting to be held this month.
