KUALA LUMPUR: Though the M-League is seen as a one-horse race with Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) providing most of the national players, Malaysia's domestic competition will also feature players from other countries for the Asian Cup in Doha, Qatar, from Jan 12-Feb 10.
Three players from the M-League have been selected for the Jordan team, two for Indonesia, and one each for Bahrain, Tajikistan and Lebanon.
The Jordanians are Yazan Al-Arab (formerly Selangor), Fadi Awad (Police) and Noor Al Rawabdeh (Selangor), the Indonesians are Jordi Amat (Johor Darul Ta'zim) and Saddil Ramdani (Sabah), the Tajik is Amirbek Juraboev (Kedah), the Lebanese is Soony Saad (Penang) and the Bahraini is Moses Atede (Kedah).
Unlike heavyweights South Korea and Japan who are looking to their Europe-based players to conquer Asia, Malaysia rely heavily on players from one local club, JDT.
The Southern Tigers provide 16 players for the national team. They are Syihan Hazmi, Matthew Davies, Shahrul Saad, Syahmi Safari, La'Vere Corbin-Ong, Endrick Dos Santos, Syamer Kutty Abba, Afiq Fazail, Natxo Insa, Safawi Rasid, Arif Aiman Hanapi, Mohamadou Sumareh, Akhyar Rashid, Romel Morales, Jalil Elias (Syria) and Jordi.
Qatari club, Al-Sadd, are second in providing the most number of national players (11), followed by Lebanon's Al-Ahed (10).
Of Malaysia's 26 players, 24 are from the M-League except for Dion Cools who is with Thai club Buriram United and Junior Eldstal (Indonesia's Dewa United).
Notably, six players from the English Premier League are set to turn out for South Korea and Japan in the Asian Cup. They are Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung Min, Wolverhampton's Hwan Hee Chan, Brentford's Kim Ji Soo (Koreans) as well as Brighton's Kaoru Mitoma, Liverpool's Wataru Endo and Arsenal's Takehiro Tomiyasu (Japanese).