KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — The Football Association of Selangor (FAS) today announced the appointment of Zainal Abidin Hassan as Selangor head coach for two years starting next season.
Selangor born Zainal will replace Australian Mehmet Durakovic whose contract was terminated despite helping Selangor to win the Malaysia Cup after 10 years.
Selangor team manager Amirudin Shari said the FAS decided to sign Zainal, who was Pahang head coach this season, after considering his experience and achievement as football coach for 14 years.
"I hope that Zainal's presence will improve the performance of the Selangor coaching camp to face the challenging 2016 football season," he said.
Asked about the position of Durakovic, he said that FAS had agreed to pay compensation to the Australian for early termination of his contract which the local media claimed was in the region of RM1 million.
Amirudin said the FAS had offered Durakovic to coach the Selangor youth players but he decided to take a break with his family back in Australia.
The FAS has signed former PKNS striker, Patrick Ronaldinho Wleh as Selangor's third foreign player and the Liberian signed a one year contract while the other foreign players are Indonesian winger Andik Vermansah and Australian defender Robert Cornthwaithe.
Brazilians Leandro Dos Santos and Guilherme de Paula were dropped for the M-League next season.
Amirudin said the FAS plans to sign Selangor's fourth foreign player, a striker from South America, but he declined to disclose his identity.
Meanwhile, Zainal said he plans to sign several local players to strengthen the Selangor football squad next season.
"The addition of new players is very important because Selangor will be involved in the M-League and the AFC Cup," he told Bernama today. — Bernama
