Kelantan to import players for AFC Cup

The Kelantan Football Association (Kafa) will be seeking the services of imported players to beef up the Red Warriors in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup Championship next year.

Its president Tan Sri Annuar Musa said Kafa needed competitive imported players to face up to the best teams in the Asian continent.
"Kafa will be looking for players who have the capability to gel with the Kelantan squad and they will be tested first," he told reporters, here, today.

He had earlier received the Super League Cup won by Kelantan by emerging league champion with 56 points, ahead of Terengganu with 53 points and Selangor, 52 points from 26 matches.

Annuar who is also Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president, said Kafa was willing to dish out more funds to find quality players.
"I will not choose players based on the video demonstration tapes shown by player agents but will test the real capability of the players," he said.

Annuar said Kafa proposed to engage the services of players from Latin America, Africa or the Middle East.
"Kafa will definitely be recruiting imported players for the AFC Cup even though FAM does not allow the use of imported players in the Malaysia League next year," he said.
FAM has been considering opening its gate to imported players to fire up the Malaysia League competition but to date it has not made any decision.

In another development, Annuar appealed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for Kelantan to be given an allocation to build a new stadium to replace the Sultan Muhamad IV Stadium regardless of the political situation in the state.

Najib during his visit to Kelantan last Saturday, promised a new stadium if Barisan Nasional succeeds in recapturing the state in the coming general election.

Annuar said the success of the Red Warriors in the Super League Cup made them the Malaysian representative to the AFC Cup and Sultan Muhamad IV Stadium, which is the home ground of the squad, would certainly not be able to meet the standards of AFC.
"This means Kelantan are forced to play at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil when we play host in the AFC Cup competition," he said.

The AFC Cup competition next year will be from March 3-18 and at the moment,
three countries, namely Maldives, Nepal and Palestine, have offered themselves
as host of the championship.

AFC is expected to select the host at its executive meeting on July 29.