Kota Kinabalu: Former national fitness coach Rastislav Bozik (Rasto) will be a valuable asset to the Sabah FC team as they intend to make a strong impact in the new Super League season.
Head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee said this as the 44-year-old Slovakian, who had worked with him during their time with the national team, started his first day on the job on Monday.
“I have known Rasto for a long time. We had previously worked together for 10 years with the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and also at the National Sports Institute (NSI).
“I believe his presence will give an advantage to Sabah FC because he has a lot of experience in the field of fitness and will be able to share his expertise with the team,” he said on Monday.
Sabah FC’s previous fitness coach for the last two seasons had been Indonesian Sofie Imam Faizal, who has since left the team together with fellow countryman and former head coach Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Malaysian-English player Stuart Wilkin, who is on loan from Johor Darul Ta’zim for the new season, has also started training with the team on Monday.
Ong said the product of English Premier League outfit Southampton FC Academy is certain to further strengthen the team’s midfield department.
“His presence will improve our engine room, and with the addition of Baddrol Bakhtiar and Irfan Fazail as well as import player from South Korea, Park Taesu who is on his fourth season, this should create a healthy rivalry in the team,” he said.
He also revealed that new foreign players may only arrive later this month.
“This is our second week of training. Baddrol (Bakhtiar), Rizal (Ghazali), Dominic (Tan) and Khairul Fahmi (Che Mat) who were with the national team at the AFF Suzuki Cup tournament recently will only be with us next week, while import players will likely be present in the middle or end of January as we need to look at their quality before deciding who we will choose,” he added.
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