KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Hamidin Amin is no eternal optimist, but the FAM president believes with conviction that Malaysia can do it — qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
He called on the national team today to build up a good momentum towards 2026 World Cup qualification by beating Kyrgyzstan on Thursday and Taiwan on Nov 21.
Hamidin believes Malaysia have a fighting chance especially when the 2026 World Cup, jointly held in Canada, the United States and Mexico, will see an expansion from 32 teams to 48 for the first time ever.
The FAM boss is working around the clock with his strategists, including South Korean Kim Pan Gon, for Malaysia to be among the eight Asian teams for the 2026 World Cup Finals.
To ensure Malaysia do well in the World Cup qualiifers, Hamidin has planned for the team to play 10 quality international matches — which include competitions and international friendlies.A
Hamidin said Malaysia, ranked world No. 137, aim to get full points from world No. 97 Kyrgyzstan and world No. 152 Taiwan.
He said the World Cup campaign is far more important than next year's Asian Cup in Doha.
"It's true that we ended a 42-year drought to qualify for the Asian stage on merit but the competition there is more towards gaining experience and collecting ranking points.
"But World Cup qualification is far more important. Malaysia have a chance to reach the third round of the qualifiers which also offers an automatic berth to the 2027 Asian Cup.
"During the qualifiers, we will play in 10 quality matches against the best teams in Asia like Australia, Japan, Iran or South Korea."
Malaysia have never reached the final stage of the World Cup qualifiers, but Hamdin believes that this time, the national team backed by an improvement in world ranking, can do it.