MALAYSIA hope to see more young guns like Luqman Hakim Shamsudin being produced through the National Football Development Programme (NFDP) and Mokhtar Dahari Academy (AMD) after Friday’s 2020 Budget announcement.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced that the NFDP nationwide development programme, established in 2014, will receive a whopping RM45 million, a hefty increase of RM30 million from last year’s allocation of RM15 million.
National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail breathed a sigh of relief and said the new budget has solved their financial problem.
“NSC are happy with the increase in allocation for the NFDP and AMD. This comes as a great relief for us as previously we were forced to use allocation for other sports to ensure the programme can continue as usual,” said Shapawi.
“Apart from that, the allotted money will be able to help NSC prepare better facilities at AMD in ensuring that it becomes a football development centre that matches all other developed nations.
“The RM45 million will ensure more competitions being held to prepare close to 15 thousand NFDP trainees apart from training and overseas exposure.”