PUTRAJAYA: Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has told coach Lim Teong Kim to take responsibility for his squad's failure to qualify for the Under-17 World Cup.
The national Under-16 team, developed under the National Football Development Programme (NFDP), which has cost RM80 million, failed to make it past the group stage of the AFC Championship, which served as a qualifier for the World Cup, after losing to Japan in Kuala Lumpur today.
Teong Kim is currently contracted to NFDP as the Mokhtar Dahari Academy (AMD) director until 2020.
Saddiq said as Teong Kim himself set a target of qualifying for the World Cup, he needs to assume responsibility.
"His contract, which ends in 2020, needs to be reevaluated as his salary is as much as RM175,000 a month, tax free," said Saddiq.
Saddiq added that he does not want to place the blame on the players who have done their best. There, however, needs to be accountability from the NFDP senior management.
Saddiq said his ministry will discuss the resignation letter of NFDP chief executive officer Safirul Azli Abu Bakar which he had earlier handed in.
Teong Kim, who was first appointed as NFDP director in 2013, assumed the role of AMD director in 2016.