Kota Kinabalu: The search for President Cup and Youth Cup players to represent Sabah Football Association (Safa) in the 2023 season is set to begin early next year.
Safa secretary general Dato Jelani Hamdan, who made the announcement on Tuesday, said the decision was reached following a discussion with Safa President Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin early this month.
“The selection trial open to players under 18 and 20 years of age is expected to be held by January next year involving eight zones across the State.
“The management will announce the exact dates and venues soon and our target is to find calibre players to assemble strong teams to represent Safa in both tournaments,” he said.
He added that Safa technical director Omar Maya Amat will lead the selection panel featuring former senior team coaches Jelius Ating, Burhan Ajui and current goalkeeping coach Irwan Jamil with a line of coordinators appointed in collaboration with the district associations.
Meanwhile, the new season will see two separate teams from Sabah competing in the President Cup and Youth Cup competitions.
Sabah FC were the sole representative for the State in the past two seasons since it was formed in 2021.
Their President Cup squad came second in the group stage in the just concluded season but failed to advance to the semi-final after losing 1-4 on aggregate to Selangor over two legs in the last eight, while the Youth Cup team only managed third in their group in the preliminary rounds.
