KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — The status of Lim Teong Kim’s contract extension as the Mokhtar Dahari Academy (AMD) director remains unanswered.

According to Youth and Sports Minister, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, the final decision on the matter will only be decided after a further meeting with Teong Kim and the National Football Development Programme (NFDP) stakeholders.

“This matter has been discussed but as for further details, we will inform later, because we have to communicate with him and other stakeholders,” he said, in a press conference after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the National Sports Council (MSN) and Kool Sport, Asia Pacific Sports and the Regent International School for the National Football Development Programme in Bukit Jalil, here today.

Earlier, Syed Saddiq chaired the NFDP Steering Committee Meeting which was also attended by MSN director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail and Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin.

Prior to this, NFDP Technical Committee chairman Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal hinted that Teong Kim’s contract, at RM175,000 a month and ending on October 31, will not be extended.

Asked whether there was a replacement candidate if Teong Kim’s contract was not renewed, Syed Saddiq said: “To answer that question I have to make sure this (the decision on Teong Kim’s contract) first.”

For the record, Teong Kim was first appointed as the NFDP technical director in 2013, and later assumed the post of AMD director in 2016.

However, the former Bayern Munich junior squad coach is said to have “lost his influence” in the NFDP set up when his duties as technical director was taken over by Saad Ichalalene after the programme was restructured in December last year, a decision that was taken over Malaysia’s failure to advance into the quarter-finals of the 2018 AFC Under-16 Championships and a missed opportunity to play in the 2019 Under-17 World Cup.

In a separate development, the partnership between NSC and the entities today will enable them to receive sponsorships worth more than RM10.8 million over five years.

The sponsorship for NFDP includes various basic training needs such as ball supplies for all training centres, competition attires as well as educational needs at AMD. — Bernama