LONDON, Dec 9 — The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has appointed German Frank Bernhardt as the head coach of the National Under-23 squad ahead of Datuk Ong Kim Swee and Micheal Weiss, also from Germany.

FAM’s Special Functions Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Mokhtar Ahmad said Bernhardt's appointment was done following a consensus from the panel which also comprised representatives from the National Sports Council (NSC).

“Today the committee agreed to the appointment Bernhart after recommendations from the panel. His (Bernhardt) appointment is for two days effective January 2016, primarily until the 2017 SEA Games hosted by Malaysia,” he told reporters at Wisma FAM, today.

Mokhtar said Bernhard’s priority would be to win the 2017 SEA Games gold medal since Malaysia are the host. As for the appointment of the National head coach he said the appointment will be finalised by January.

He said the FAM were screening the 70 odd candidates who have been shortlisted for the post that fell vacant since the departure of Dollah Salleh after the embarrassing 0-10 defeat to the United Arab Emirates.

Upon Dollah’s departure on Sept 3, Kim Swee was appointed as the interim coach on Sept 8, to manage the team for the 2018 Russia World Cup Qualifier/2019 Asian Cup Qualifiers. — Bernama