KUCHING: Kuching Division Football Association (KDFA) president, Datuk Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman, highlighted the importance of nurturing local talent through active academies and competitions during his attendance at the Petronas Youth Football Closed Tournament 2024.
Fazzrudin said that the first phase of KFA’s long-term plan was to encourage and support local football academies, creating a strong foundation for the development of young athletes.
“The first phase is about building excitement and awareness around field football.
“We aim to host competitions that will help academies become more active in training players.
“This will then help to identify potential talents for the Kuching City FC, starting with the Under-17s,” he said to reporters when met at the Sarawak State Stadium yesterday.
He also noted that while the first phase could take one to two years, the focus will be on towards growing the current pool of local talent.
“The more teams we have, the greater the pool of players we can tap into,” he added.
In addition to supporting the academies, Fazzrudin shared that Kuching Football Association was assisting local teams by providing competitions, coach training courses, and sometimes even equipment to the participating academies.
Once the academies are more active, he believes the local football ecosystem will naturally fall into place, creating a much more sustainable pipeline of players for Kuching City FC and beyond.