GEORGE TOWN, Feb 20 — The limit for supporters to watch the final round of the 2023 Asian Cup football qualifiers at stadiums is 50 per cent of the stadium capacity or a maximum of 20,000 fans, said Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin.
Hamidin said that so far, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Security Council (NSC) have set these stadium limits for the tournament which Malaysia will be hosting.
“We will continue to monitor the current cases of Covid-19 and have time until June … if conditions permit, we will apply to the MOH and MKN to allow more supporters in stadiums,” he told reporters after officiating the Kopa Arena synthetic pitch at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) here today.
Hamidin said the current Covid cases were still high and compliance with standard operating procedures was important in ensuring the health of all.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in a recent statement announced that Malaysia have been selected as one of six hosts for the qualifiers to grab spots in the 2023 Asian Cup in China.
The AFC also listed India, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan as hosts for the qualifiers to determine the remaining 11 teams that will advance to the Finals to be held in 10 cities in China.
The last time Malaysia qualified for the Asian Cup on merit was in the 1980 Kuwait edition, while in 2007, the country co-hosted with Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Hamidin said the local candidate who will be selected as assistant coach to new national head coach Kim Pan Gon will be announced next week.
He said the right to select the local assistant coach was solely the right of the head coach.
“We will announce his name (assistant coach) next Tuesday or Wednesday … the head coach will make the announcement,” he said.
Yesterday, local media reported that the coach from South Korea was interested in meeting with seven local candidates before announcing the new coaching line-up of the national squad.
The friendly matches against the Philippines on March 23 and Singapore on March 26 are an early test for Pan Gon, in preparation for the 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers in June.
— Bernama
