KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) will provide the government its full support on Asean’s decision to launch a joint bid for the 2034 World Cup.
FAM secretary-general, Stuart Ramalingam said the national football governing body was willing to assist the government by providing all the right information on the technical aspects, procedures and process to make a successful bid to the International Football Federation (Fifa).
“This is a big opportunity for football in this region, which will leave a big legacy to Asean as well as Malaysia, and FAM is tremendously excited. The football industry will benefit in terms of facilities, development, government and private investments, which will all be aimed in one direction — football.
“This is a huge development as the leaders (prime minister and president) of Asean countries are discussing it now. Previously it was discussed among football fraternities, including the Asean Football Federation (AFF),” he told Bernama today.
Yesterday, Asean Chairman, Gen Prayuth Chan o-cha, at the 34th Asean Summit in Bangkok, announced that all Asean member nations agreed to submit a joint bid to host the biggest sporting show on earth.
Later, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia welcomed the joint effort, mooted by five nations, as chances to succeed are slim if a single nation submitted the bids.
However, Stuart pointed out that the task for hosting, and even bidding for the biggest football extravaganza in the world would be a mammoth one, taking into account the commitment, investment and time required for the process.
“We must conduct a feasibility study on the infrastructure, facilities and the cost required as it involves multimillion dollars. The Asean countries also must be aware of the timeline of the bidding process, which will start from 10 to eight years before the actual event,” he said.
For the record, England spent £21 million (about RM110 million) to bid for the 2018 World Cup, which eventually was won and hosted by Russia.
With Qatar to host the 2022 edition, the 2026 World Cup will be co-hosted by three countries — Canada, Mexico and the United States for the first time ever, which will also see the introduction of a 48-team tournament.
Last year, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, who was a former Fifa executive committee member, said Malaysia could be part of a joint bid from four Asean countries — Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam to host the 2034 Fifa World Cup.
The 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup was the first ever edition held on Asian soil, and the first outside the Europe, South America and North America continents.
If the Asean nations go ahead with their bid, they are expected to face huge competition from another Asian interest, the 2023 Asian Cup host, China.
Besides having a huge financial advantage, China also plans to use the Asian Cup as the launchpad for the World Cup, by proposing to build new football-specific stadiums in nine of the planned twelve host cities.
According to the 2026 World Cup bidding guidelines, among the facilities requirement for hosting the event are stadiums with minimum capacity of 80,000 for opening and final matches, 60,000 for semi-finals and 40,000 for other matches. — Bernama
