STREET football, which has produced Brazilian stars like Neymar, Romario, Ronaldo and Rivaldo, may finally kick off in a big way in Malaysia.
Zainal Abd Aziz, who used to play for the Penang Under-16 football team and is now the CEO of a communications and entertainment company, is keen to see the sport thrive here.
Zainal, the chief executive of Afrozapin Network Sdn Bhd, feels that street football, which is popularly played in Brazil’s housing projects, is ideal for Malaysia’s urban or dense residential areas.
He said his major goal is to create awareness among Malaysians, especially the young, about the sport.
The 58-year-old looks to be in a good position to do so — as he has the network and resources.
Street football or street soccer (in the United States) or street bola (as Zainal calls it) is an informal variation of association football. It does not follow the requirements of association football: large field, field markings, goal apparatus and corner flags, 11 players per team, or match officials.
In street football, there can be three, four or five players in a side who can play between seven and 10 minutes on a tennis court, for example, with smaller-sized goalposts.
“Emphasis is on skill development as movements are limited due to the small size of the playing area. That’s how strikers and defenders are ‘created’ — with street soccer perfecting their skills,” explained Zainal.
He pointed out that while beach soccer relies on legwork and futsal is a team game played in a bigger space, street football is all about skills and touch football.
“Street soccer can become ‘feeders’ in the sense that it is a stepping stone for these players to progress to the national team (playing regular football).”
With his extensive experience in organising sport events, including three editions of the prestigious Le Tour de Langkawi, Zainal believes he can help to popularise street football here.
He said street football is good for community bonding and can bring the country’s various races together. Fun, skill-building and nation-building all come into play.
Zainal is indeed taking up the clarion call of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, who has envisioned unity through sports.
According to Zainal, the My Street Bola tournament, with “Unity” as its appropriate theme, is scheduled to kick off nationwide in October.
It will coincide with the National Sports Day events, with matches primarily taking place in shopping malls.
The tournament’s actual name has a rather quirky meaning, as Zainal enthused in an interview with New Straits Times.
“It’s known as street football in the United Kingdom, and street soccer in the United States. So we came up with street bola to give the tournament a local identity.”
Zainal, who was born in Kepala Batas, Alor Star, is now active into coaching after 25 years of playing football.
“The main aim (of the tournament) is to secure a footing in the local sports scene.”
Getting international recognition for Malaysian street football is also part of his long-term plans.
Zainal has been in contact with the International Street Soccer Association (ISSA) in the past three months on setting up an affiliate here.
“The ISSA have organised tournaments in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and they would like to come to Malaysia and Singapore,” said Zainal, who received a letter from Graham Downs, who is in charge of ISSA International Relations, last month.
Downs said the ISSA are keen to work with Zainal in organising an international tournament in Malaysia, lasting 42 days and spanning 14 states.
That is where the My Street Bola tournament will fit into Zainal’s plans — as a ground to unearth talent for a national team.
He lamented that street football is not being played in schools and universities here because “nobody is promoting it”.
He admitted that several street football tournaments had been held in the past few years but they were on a small-scale, which failed to garner the desired results.
Zainal expects the My Street Bola competition to have a profound effect on Malaysians. There will be fan zones and workshops, as well as visits to schools and educational institutions, to promote the game.
“We hope to give back to the community by donating shoes and equipment with the money collected from the competition.
“Hopefully, street football will start in an official manner for Malaysia next year, what with it being the Visit Malaysia Year 2020 campaign and also the European Championship to be held in the summer.”
Apart from plans to bring in famed freestylers from abroad in two years’ time, Zainal said he hopes to organise a signature event to attract international endorsement.
On sponsorship for the My Street Bola tournament, Zainal said he is sourcing for seed funding and is talking to a few potential investors, mainly “government-linked companies”.