KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — A new millennium demands new ideas, new thinking and a new way forward; hence, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) launched a roadmap named ‘F:30’ with the aim of becoming one of Asia’s top five footballing nations by 2030 in a gala event at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Kuala Lumpur today.

The event was attended by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, Asia Football Confederation (AFC) president Shaikh Salman Ebrahim Al Khalifa, FAM president Datuk Hamidin Amin, Fifa general secretary Fatma Samoura and AFC General Secretary Datuk Windsor John.

The plan was the idea of Hamidin, who is in his 110th day in office and desperately wants to change the flailing fortunes of Malaysian football whose national team languishes in the 169th place in the world rankings while its junior teams aren’t faring much better.

Infantino, in only his second visit to Malaysia since 2001, said he was buoyed by the passion for football in the nation, and apart from sampling some roti canai and nasi lemak, has visited Langkawi and Melaka with FAM members.

He later revealed to members of the press during the media session that it was in Melaka where FAM president Hamidin conceived the idea of F:30.

“Melaka is where you (Hamidin) made the decision to make F:30 a reality and I feel it’s a great way to define the future of football in an important country like Malaysia,” said Infantino.

“In Fifa, we have 211 members who all want to do the same thing, win the World Cup.

“While there can be only one winner, it does not mean the rest are failures. We need to start looking into the association to see what they’re doing to develop football and it’s important to remember that in every football result there are many factors at play not just putting the ball into the goal.

“There is no magic formula, no secret and no person can just come and say football is changing and Malaysia will be world champions. The only way forward is through hard work.

“This plan will change the history of football in Malaysia so if you’re proud of it, it’s only going to get better once this plan is in motion.”

The 12-year-plan will be divided into three phases:

2018-2022: Build a solid foundation from governance, competitions and human capital development and infrastructure locally.

2023-2026: All of the above but on the Asian level.

2027-2030: Produce a national team of world class level.

The F:30 roadmap is built with the idea of restructuring and fixing the fundamentals that underpin the Malaysian game. It is built on three key pillars:

Governance: A new system of thinking to organise people and policy. One that unifies and focuses mindset creating a culture of professionalism and integrity in a constant cycle of review, progress reports and knowledge transfer.

Enhance development: Comprehensive development in all areas like enhancing football philosophy to coaches and players alike. Boosting technical capabilities and like mental strength and physicality all in order to fins a unique identity for Malaysian football.

Competition: Create competition to test these skills and techniques that’re being nurtured. From Under-12 to Under-20 there’ll be cups and carnivals where they can show their skills at all levels.

“You don’t have to wait for a Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi to be born in Malaysia to wait for success,” added Infantino.

“It can be planned with work, discipline, concrete action. If done right, in a very short time, Malaysia can achieve these ambitious targets, and they are very ambitious targets.

“But you must be ambitious because you’re a big country. I want to see Malaysian football shine and I sincerely hope not just senior team football but women’s, juniors and futsal as well.”

“Through football, we teach them respect, how to win and also how to lose, because in life, when we lose, we must learn to pick ourselves up.

“You can always depend on Fifa for help and we will be there when needed.”