PETALING JAYA, Sept 23 — Newly elected Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan believes Harimau Malaya have the quality and capability to reach the 2026 FIFA ASEAN Cup final in Indonesia.
The inaugural tournament will run from September 25 to October 5.
Ab Ghani said his confidence in interim coach Tan Cheng Hoe's squad was based on the quality and capability of the players selected to represent the country.
"I hope they will give their all. As I have told them, they are not playing for me, nor for FAM, but for the country. This is the mindset they must instil.
"When we play for the country, our hearts are fully committed to the nation, so it is entirely possible for them to achieve this, God willing," he told reporters after FAM's 100th-anniversary celebration here tonight.
Also present was FAM honorary president Tan Sri Hamidin Mohd Amin.
Among the 23 players selected to don the Harimau Malaya jersey at the 2026 FIFA ASEAN Cup are Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) winger Arif Aiman Mohd Hanapi, his teammate and newly naturalised striker Bergson da Silva, and Japan-based Cerezo Osaka defender Dion Cools.
The Harimau Malaya squad, who left for Indonesia early this morning, will compete in Division 1 of the 2026 FIFA ASEAN Cup. They have been drawn in Group A alongside Indonesia, Singapore and Bangladesh.
Group B comprises Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Pakistan.
Malaysia, ranked 136th in the world, will kick off their campaign against 181st-ranked Bangladesh at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on September 25.
The national squad will then face world No. 118 Indonesia at the same venue on September 28 before wrapping up their Group A fixtures against 148th-ranked Singapore at the Si Jalak Harupat Stadium in Bandung on October 1.
Under the tournament format, the Group A and Group B champions will meet in the final at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on October 5, while the runners-up from both groups will contest the third-place playoff at the same venue earlier that day.
