MALAYAN TIGRESS GET TOUCH OF BRAZILIAN COACH, SOLEEN APPOINTED TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

PETALING JAYA, May 14 (Bernama) -- The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) today appointed Joel Cornelli, an experienced coach from Brazil, as the head coach of the national women's football squad.

In an announcement, FAM Women's Football Committee chairman Datuk Suraya Yaacob, said Cornelli, who will officially begin his duties at the end of this month, to replace Soleen Al-Zoubi who is currently the FAM Women's Football technical director.

Cornelli, who has more than two decades of experience in the coaching, is honoured to be entrusted with leading the Malayan Tigress squad, especially for the 2026 Women's Asian Cup Qualifier in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, from June 23 to July 5.

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"I believe our team has the potential and I see some players have huge quality. We have one month and a half (2026 Women's Asian Cup Qualifier), so I will try to do my best to organise the team," he said at his first press conference here, today.

Among his achievements while coaching abroad before were guiding Indonesian club Arema FC to win the 2024 President's Cup in addition to helping Jordanian women's football club Etihad Club win the 2023 Jordan Women's Pro League and the 2023 Saudi Arabia Champions Cup.

Meanwhile, Suraya described the appointment of the 58-year-old coach as important to further strengthen the Malayan Tigress to compete on the international stage.

"We very much welcome Joel's presence into the Malaysian women's football family and I believe he can bring a fresh and new approach to the national women's football squad, especially ahead of the Group H action of the 2026 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers in June.

"He will start working with the players at the Malayan Tigress central training camp which is scheduled to begin at the end of May. With the full support of the coaching staff and FAM, I believe the national women's football squad will be able to create a surprise in Tajikistan," she said.

Suraya also set an initial target for Cornelli to compete strongly in the 2026 Women's Asian Cup Qualifying campaign and try to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand, this December.

For the 2026 Women's Asian Cup Qualifying campaign, Malaysia were drawn in Group H with North Korea, Palestine and the host, Tajikistan.

Only the group winner will qualify for the 2026 Women's Asian Cup in Australia from March 1-21.

Meanwhile, Soleen said Cornelli's appointment will help her focus on the overall development aspects of the country's women's football, especially youth development, coach education, development programmes and long-term technical planning.

Meanwhile, FAM in a statement announced that a total of 27 players have been called up by Cornelli to participate in the first phase of centralised training camp starting next Wednesday.

The centralised training camp is held to face a series of international Tier 1 friendly matches in Thimphu, Bhutan against Hong Kong on May 31, followed by the home team on June 3 ahead of the 2026 Women's Asian Cup Qualifying campaign.

Here is the list of 27 players called up for the first centralised training camp under Cornelli:

-- BERNAMA