ON their small shoulders lies the future of Malaysian football.

These are boys aged between seven and 17 who have been picked from villages, estates, districts and towns from Kuala Perlis to the back or beyond in Sarawak.

They are boys like Mohamed Alias Alan. Not too long ago, he was kicking a football in a patch in Kampung Pasir Puteh in Tawau, Sabah.

Today, Alias is a trainee with the National Football Development Programme (NFDP), which comes under the Youth and Sports Ministry.

He is a member of Malaysia’s elite football youth team currently undergoing training at the Bukit Jalil Sports School, being prepared for the Fifa World Cup Under-17 tournament in 2019.

But the bigger picture is this: Alias is one of 22,575 youngsters currently being trained to improve Malaysia’s standing in world football.

“On them lay our country’s football fortunes,” said the man in charge of NFDP, Lim Teong Kim, a former national footballer and coach of the Bayern Munich youth team for more than a decade from 2001 to 2013.

The figures in the youth development programme are staggering: 22,575 players from the ages of seven to 17, being trained by 1,025 coaches at more than 100 centres nationwide (see graphics below).

These kids, he said, are selected from villages, estates, districts and towns. They attend football carnivals organised by Akademi Tunas under the NFDP. Once selected, they will be nurtured and trained by the coaches.

“Then they slowly make their way up until they reach the elite squad, the one which is being prepared for the Under-17 World Cup,” said Teong Kim.

But what is more surprising is that since NFDP was launched in 2014 and Teong Kim stepped on board, he has taken his team to numerous international tournaments and friendlies, something Malaysian youngsters could only dream about.

The team just returned from the Under-15 Delle Nazionis Tournament in Italy where Malaysia competed with Mexico, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Russia, among others. Malaysia finished 10th out of 12 teams.

In 2015, they took part in the Under-13 IBER Cup in Spain where they finished champion, beating Sporting Lisbon in the final. They beat Sporting Lisbon again the following year to become champs in an Under-14 tournament in Kuala Lumpur.

Since this team was formed, they have played in numerous tournaments against the likes of youth teams from AS Monaco, Bordeaux, Nice, Paris St Germain, FC Sevilla and Athletico Madrid, just to name a few.

“The earlier they are exposed to the international level, the better it is,” Teong Kim told The Malaysian Insight.

“The progress of the players has been good thus far. Tactically they are improving. The programme is good, but their discipline, attitude and work ethics are important.

“We do face some obstacles but we will adapt. These are just small issues that can be solved,” he said.

The coach, who had players like Emre Chan (Liverpool), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) and Nicola Sansone (Villarreal) under his wing during his days at Bayern Munich, hit out at critics of Malaysian football.

Many of these armchair critics, he said, do not know what’s happening on the ground.

“They say our youth development programme is non-existent and that is why our football is going nowhere.

“That was before 2014. Very few know about the NFDP. Perhaps now they will be more optimistic.”

Malaysia is currently 158th in Fifa’s world ranking, below Tahiti (153), Afghanistan (154), Sudan (155), Papua New Guinea (156) and Mauritius (157).

Teong Kim was also realistic.

“Our footballing fortunes are not going to change overnight. I give it 10 to 15 years”.

“It’s still work in progress.” – May 7, 2017.