Source: NST.com.my

The National Futsal League (NFL) will go professional soon as the FA of Malaysia (FAM) has already taken steps to make it a reality.

The national body believes the standard of futsal will improve if a professional league is introduced as the game is popular among youths.

"It will help raise the standard of the game in Malaysia. More youngsters are playing futsal compared to football and we need to tap players with talent in the right way," said FAM general secretary Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin recently.

"At present, futsal is treated as a past-time by youths. There are many active social leagues but they do not create avenues for a futsal player to progress accordingly.

"Thailand and Iran are among the best in Asia because they have professional leagues. We should head in that direction."

FAM, however, is thankful to Felda for sponsoring the NFL since 2007.

"This season's NFL attracted 16 teams in the men's section and 12 in the women's category. It is the most popular local league and offers attractive prize money.

"However, we need to do a study on ways to make this league grander as I hope to see more teams in the competition," said Hamidin.

This year's competition, which ended last weekend at Malawati Stadium in Shah Alam, saw Felda United and Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) winning the men's and women's titles respectively for the first time.

Felda edged MPSJ 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out after the match ended 2-2 in extra-time in the men's final.

In the women's final, MPSJ bounced back strongly to edge Sabah 2-1.

Sabah looked like they were on the way to winning the title after Dadree Rofinus put them ahead one minute into the second half.

But it was not to be for the Borneo side as MPSJ turned the tie around when skipper Steffi Sarge Kaur levelled the score in the 34th minute before Nur Shazreen Munazil stepped up to net the winning goal three minutes from time.

"We were very nervous in the first half and did not play our normal game. That affected our momentum and only after Sabah had scored did the players show some urgency," said Steffi.

"Words cannot express our joy as we had worked hard to win the double this year. I am grateful to my teammates for not giving up despite being a goal down and it was a collective effort that saw us win."

Felda and MPSJ each pocketed RM150,000 in prize money for their efforts -- RM100,000 for becoming league champions and RM50,000 for the overall title -- while the runners-up of the league and overall title took home RM50,000 and RM30,000 respectively.





FP Staff --> info@futsalplanet.com