SELANGOR are not against releasing their players for international duty.
Responding to Selangor's decision not to release defender Harith Haikal Adam Afkar for the AFC Under-23 qualifies, team manager Mahfizul Rusydin Abdul Rashid said the club are having injury issues ahead of the Malaysia Cup.
"We are proud that many of our players have been called up for international assignments.
'However, the Malaysia Cup is also an important assignment for the club," said Mahfizul yesterday. "We need our available players to cover the injuries in the squad. Our goal is to do well in the Malaysia Cup.
"As a club, we always encourage our players to play for the national team.
"As for the Under-23 qualifiers, we have released players from our feeder club (Selangor FC II) for the assignment."
For the record, Selangor have released 11 players for the AFC Under-23 qualifiers in Mongolia.
The Red Giants will restart their Malaysia Cup campaign without three regulars in Brendan Gan, Halim Saari and Tim Heubach.
Brendan is recovering from cancer while Halim and German defender Heubach are down with long-term injuries.
"Syahmi Safari, Aliff Haiqal Lokman Hakim Lau and Sharul Nazeem Zulpakar are close to regaining their fitness while Shahrel Fikri Fauzi played a friendly last week after recovering from an injury," he added.
Selangor defeated Perak 1-0 but lost 2-1 to Terengganu in their opening two Group B matches of the Malaysia Cup.
The Red Giants will resume their campaign against Kuching City on Oct 30.