To produce more qualified administrators and coaches, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) hopes to embark on a Bachelor’s degree programme in football management with Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) in Tanjung Malim.
This was revealed by FAM’s Member Associations Development and Relations Committee deputy chairman, Christopher Raj, on the football talk show Rembat! on Thursday night.
“We want to empower our members,” Raj said.
“People say knowledge is power. So, I came up with the idea to partner with UPSI for a Bachelor’s degree programme in football management.
“This will help us empower member associations to understand the processes.
“A working team was at the university on Wednesday. I will meet the vice-chancellor next week to take these discussions further. We will also talk to the National Accreditation Board to approve the programme.
“It is still in the early stages, but we hope to submit the modules for approval by June or July (next year), so we can start the programme either in January 2023, or at the end of 2022.”
Raj said the programme would be managed jointly by UPSI and FAM, with the latter being the expert centre, and the former, handling the curricula, syllabus and modules, with input from the national body.
For a start, the programme would only have 20-25 students. The graduates would also have to sit for their ‘D’ coaching licence.
“The licence will include sports science, data science, all the necessary scientific elements, and also, talent identification,” said Raj.
“It will have the best of everything. Then, the graduate can decide which path to take.
“If they want to be a coach, they would already have a ‘D’ licence. If they hope to be administrators, they can join the secretariat.
“To work with teams, they would have the basic scientific knowledge, such as conditioning, sport science, and talent identification.”
He said the idea is that five, 10 or 15 years down the line, these graduates would end up in state FAs as general secretaries, managers or administrators.
Raj said the modules would emphasise on the practical aspects as things are moving at a rapid pace.
“For instance, the media management landscape has changed. They need to know about the challenges of facing the media today,” said Raj, who is also FAM’s Media, Communications and Public Relations Committee chairman.
“What is the storytelling process? What is the right way to say it if you are a general secretary of an association? It is not about writing a press release anymore. People want to hear from you, not read a six-paragraph statement that does not help anyone.
“How do you strategise communications? How do you deal with social media? How do you manage a Twitter handle, your Instagram account, and all the other platforms?
“How do you write opinion pieces on LinkedIn? So, these are the things that we need to do, and that is why I want to include data science and important data analytics into the system.
“The syllabus applies to all sectors, so the graduates can go beyond football. Not just to other sports, but in the private sector, too.
“That would help them find employment if jobs within the football ecosystem are limited,” he added.
