File photo of Kim Pan Gon. — Picture from FAM
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 – Local football fans will have to wait a little longer to see new national head coach Kim Pan Gon holding the Harimau Malaya jersey at his first press conference here.
Pan Gon, who was announced as the new head honcho of the Harimau Malaya to replace Tan Cheng Hoe last month, was supposed to have arrived with his four assistants earlier this month.
However, due to the unfinished travel documentation process, the former Hong Kong head coach from South Korea and his coaching staff will only arrive in the country by the middle of this month.
“If all goes well, (Pan Gon will arrive) next week or the following week. The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) needs to complete the relevant documentation to apply for an Employee Pass from MYXpats and several other matters. Only then can we book his flight ticket.
“FAM cannot arbitrarily book flight tickets because if the documentation is not complete, he cannot enter the country,” FAM secretary-general Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar told Bernama.
Mohd Saifuddin said as soon as Pan Gon and his coaching staff touch down here, they would first have to undergo mandatory quarantine for five days before he can be introduced to the public at a press conference.
The 52-year-old coach will arrive accompanied by an assistant coach, a goalkeeper coach, a fitness coach and an analyst.
His first task is to monitor the performance of players in the 2022 Malaysian League scheduled to kick off later this month, before calling the national squad’s first centralised training camp in March.
He will then guide the national squad to face the third round of the 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers in June, in a mission to end Malaysia’s more than 40-year wait to qualify on merit for the final round of the continental tournament. – Bernama