However, he said football clubs under the Malaysian Football League can proceed with the programme by adhering to the steps and procedures outlined by the government.
“Naturalised players provide local players with competition to vie for spots in the main lineup of our national team,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.
“Moreover, their presence has contributed to the improvement in the quality of Malaysian football, as evidenced by Harimau Malaya’s recent rise in the FIFA rankings.”
Adam was responding to a question from Jimmy Puah (PH-Tebrau) on FAM’s efforts to improve the quality of football and whether the naturalisation programme will be continued in the future.
In 2021, FAM decided to suspend its naturalisation programme to assess its viability for the next cycle of the World Cup 2026 qualifiers.
The programme, introduced in 2018 to bolster the national team, received criticism following Malaysia’s second-round exit at the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in June 2021. The issue came to light again following Harimau Malaya’s elimination at the group stage of the recent Asian Cup 2024 in Doha, Qatar.
Earlier, Adam revealed that four naturalised players and seven “heritage” players with family ties to Malaysian citizens participated in the Asian Cup.
The national team had qualified for the tournament on merit for the first time in 42 years, but two consecutive losses to Jordan (4-0) and Bahrain (1-0) in Group E put paid to the nation’s hopes.
Adam told the Dewan Rakyat that his ministry will also continue with the National Football Development Programme (NFDP) which was initiated in 2014, in an effort to improve the country’s football performance.
The NFDP, which is under the National Sports Council (NSC), targets boys aged 7 to 17 to develop new talents for the future.
“This programme is a long-term strategic plan that has outlined nine initiatives aimed at nurturing a new generation of Malaysian football players who can compete at the international level, with the aim of qualifying for the World Cup,” he said.
He added that the programme involves 16,228 players and 767 coaches from various grassroots academies, district training centres, state sports schools, and national sport schools.