KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 — To see your favourite player in the World Cup is great. Seeing a player you used to train playing at the highest level of football? That is just priceless.
This is exactly how two Malaysian private football academy coaches, Chris Nathan Firdausi and Shazwan Wong, felt after seeing 18-year-old Hamza Abdelkarim make his debut for Egypt at the World Cup.
“We’re very fortunate to share that experience with him — it’s not like we could foresee him being a World Cup player 10 years on, we couldn’t say that but yes, I was very fortunate to have coached him when he was eight years old.
“To see someone we actually know on the World Cup stage, the feeling is different lah.
“You can’t describe that, this is a first-time experience for us as well and we don’t have the words to describe the feeling,” Chris told Malay Mail.
Shazwan is currently serving as Little League Soccer (LLS) general manager, which is Malaysia’s longest-running international youth academy providing grassroots football training for children, while Chris is serving as its Academy Director overseeing its elite youth clubs such as FC Kuala Lumpur, FC Setia Alam, FC Kepong and FC Tanjung Bungah in Penang.
Both of them also have over 10 years of experience coaching youth clubs with Shazwan currently coaching FC Kepong Under Nine’s team.
Hamza Abdelkarim: the first Egyptian Barça player to be named in a World Cup squadpic.twitter.com/kpRCQ4r8ei
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) June 15, 2026
What makes Hamza stand out?
Aside from his historic debut on football’s biggest stage after subbing for Mohamed Salah, Hamza also recently sealed a dream move to FC Barcelona from Al-Ahly.
He was also part of the Egyptian team’s historic match against New Zealand where they secured their very first World Cup match win after beating New Zealand 3-1.
Although he hasn’t scored any goals yet in the World Cup, it’s just a matter of time as the youngster is currently being praised as the "Egyptian Haaland".
But before he went to Al-Ahly, Hamza actually trained in Malaysia for around two years at FC Kuala Lumpur, the elite youth training programme under LLS.
“Yes, we are the starting point but when he went back to Egypt, I think that’s what compelled him to become better.
“We did not build Hamza 100 per cent to be part of the World Cup, we are just a very small part in his journey.
“I think Al-Ahly plays the biggest part in his growth as a player because after he went from here to Egypt, he played for another private club and then got the offer to Al-Ahly and I think that structure across in Egypt helps him more in progressing to the next level, which is what we’re lacking here,” Shazwan said.
Malaysia needs more elite training academy for local youth footballers says LLS’ academy director Chris Nathan Firdausi. — Picture courtesy of Little League Soccer Why can’t our youth shine like Hamza?
According to both coaches, Malaysia does not lack talented young players, instead the country lacks the professional and structured pathways to further grow these players which includes the lack of elite football academies.
Currently there are only three football academies in Malaysia that they consider elite which are Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), the Mokhtar Dahari Academy (AMD) and Selangor FC.
“For me, players like Hamza when he was eight, there are plenty of those across the country, there are some who are better than him at that age.
“It’s just that our pathways are not clear for elite football, which can take players to the next level.
“We only have JDT for players aged 12 onwards, we have AMD for aged 13 and Selangor FC just started and they have around three teams on their conveyor belt and of the whole country, there’s only these three and that is not enough,” Shazwan told Malay Mail.
He also pointed out that the massive skill gap between local youth teams is a challenge for them where he shared that sometimes elite youth academies have to play against significantly older age groups just to find the highly competitive, tight-margin matches essential for player development.
“I’ve coached an under-9 team where we beat other teams between 15-0 to 20-0 sometimes — that is meaningless, the opponent is not learning and my boys are not learning.
“It has to be in a competitive environment where small mistakes cost you games, like those 1-0 or 1-1 or 2-1 — we need these kinds of games every week.
“Now we have JDT U-12, the best in the country but who are they playing against? Even to the extent now, AMD U-15 is playing at the U-18 level in the Piala Belia,” he said.
Shazwan added that he brought his teams to play in international tournaments in other South-east Asian countries and even Europe to give his players exposure, but this too offered little to no help in the long run for the youth players.
LLS Academy Director Chris Nathan Firdausi (left) and General Manager Shazwan Wong (right). — Picture by Arif Zikri Meanwhile Chris shared that having more football clubs and academies that can provide players with four to five training sessions every week while also taking care of their education, dietary plans and physiological needs will be a great improvement for local grassroots football.
“If you look across in Klang Valley, how many senior teams do we have here? Just Selangor FC and KL City FC.
“But if you look across in London, how many professional teams are there? If you’re not good enough for Arsenal, you could go to Tottenham Hotspur; if not Spurs, you could go to Chelsea, or maybe you can go to Oxford.
“You could go to any London club there, and you are still getting elite training,” he said.
He also pointed out that Hamza managed to get to where he is today due to Egypt having a structured football system compared to Malaysia.
“He (Hamza) went to a structure that got him to where he is today. However, for these boys in Malaysia, they are not going to have that structure and most of their potential would die off just like that.
“Some of them might end up playing at low levels and at most, state level football but that won’t make an impact or bring football to the next level in this country.
“The crucial point is between the ages of 12 to 18 — if these things don’t change, that’s it,” Chris said, adding that most local youth players have limited options to continue their careers after reaching 18 years old.
Despite the bleak outlook, both coaches are not losing hope and will continue to nurture local talents as much as they can.
“We hope something will change because I still want to see our players in the World Cup before I die,” Shazwan said.
“I’ve been coaching for 17 years and we all have the opportunity to coach senior level teams but we are not really into it. Because we enjoy working with our grassroot talents — we just hope something will change and this Hamza case has also put a little bit of fire back into us,” Chris said.