By Farah Azharie

Malaysian youth football is dysfunctional and sleepwalking into another lost decade, said a brutally frank Harimau Malaya head coach Peter Cklamovski. FILE PIC

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian youth football is dysfunctional and sleepwalking into another lost decade, said a brutally frank Harimau Malaya head coach Peter Cklamovski.

The Australian feels that Malaysia’s youth development and grassroots system is fundamentally broken.

Cklamovski’s views carry weight as he has spent the last decade building and repairing development structures across two of Asia’s strongest football nations.

In the 2024 Japan League, his FC Tokyo side fielded the youngest squad in club history with an average age of 22.7. They ranked top five in Asia for minutes played by Under-21 players.

That youth-driven evolution did not compromise results. FC Tokyo finished seventh, became one of the highest-intensity sides in Asia, and broke both club and league attendance records.

And when Cklamovski was Australia’s Under-17 head coach, he reformed the country’s entire scouting and talent ID structure. His “Elite Matches” concept, where the best players from every region faced each other regularly, became a national standard that still exists today.

After Malaysia’s Under-17 team failed to qualify for the 2026 Asian Cup, and the national Under-23 side fell short twice this year, Timesport asked Cklamovski where the real problem lies.

“That’s the question, that’s the question of the day,” he said.

“I’m passionate about this question… if you look historically, the youth categories — 23s, 20s, 17s — haven’t qualified consistently or ever for an Asian Cup.

“I think (Malaysian) youth development is dysfunctional, and it needs help. The youth competitions are very weak, the structure is chaotic. Some states are doing this, some states are doing that. KPM league, 11 games, lucky to get 10 games or 11 games a year for the Under-13s, Under-14s. What hope have we got as a country?”

Cklamovski said Malaysia expect miracles from age-group teams despite a broken pipeline.

“As a national team coach, I have to play now and get the results. But it’s my responsibility to have a plan for the future too. And that’s where it’s dysfunctional at the moment because it’s a mess, it’s chaos,” he said.

Asked what he would rebuild first if given complete control, Cklamovski said: “I would like to understand the mechanics of how we can get the youth development improved… a huge opportunity to improve the educational system for football and connect sports schools or the schools’ football.

“Then I would hope club academies could develop their systems. And then you’ve got a school system and a club system for youth development, channelled towards the AMD (Mokhtar Dahari Academy) where it’s the elite of the elite.”

Cklamovski also stressed the importance of a strong coaching ecosystem, an area Malaysia has overlooked for decades.

He cited Japan’s 30-year rise as an example of long-term commitment. “Their system is strong. They’ve got a pyramid from the kids through to the top. It’s taken them 30 years, and they’ve got a 50-year plan,” he said.

In summarising Malaysia’s dilemma, Cklamovski did not sugarcoat it. “If nothing happens now and we keep turning away from it and closing our eyes, the game will keep falling asleep. Been sleepwalking already for a decade or decades,” he said.

Cklamovski’s immediate recommendations include fixing foundations in schools, clubs, coach education, and nationwide talent identification, or risk repeating its youth failures.