KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 (Bernama) -- The restructuring of Harimau Malaya, the national football team, continued to gain momentum as the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) appointed another foreign sports expert.
The National body announced the appointment of Australian sports scientist Dr Craig Duncan, renowned for his extensive experience and expertise in human performance, as the national team's Head of High Performance and Sports Medicine, effective this month.
In a statement, the governing body for football said Duncan will oversee areas related to high performance, including physical fitness, recovery, sports science, nutrition, sports psychology, and staff development.
"As one of Australia's leading sports scientists, Craig's innovative and holistic approach to player management has enabled high-performing teams to maximise their performance while reducing injury rates among professional athletes," FAM said.
The statement said Duncan envisions creating a world-class framework for sports science and sports medicine to enable Malaysia's senior, junior, and women's teams to achieve sustained success while fostering a high-performance culture across all levels.
"He aims to integrate advanced sports science and medical practices across all national teams and Malaysian football leagues; enhance player performance, recovery, and resilience through standardised protocols; educational programmes; and cutting-edge technology.
"With these plans, we hope to prepare our national teams with the best physical and tactical readiness, prioritising high-performance aspects in Malaysian football," FAM added.
Earlier, FAM announced another Australian, Peter Cklamovski, as the head coach of the national squad while naming Canada's Rob Friend as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Harimau Malaya on Tuesday.
Duncan has been the CEO of Performance Intelligence Agency for 15 years since 2009 and served as Head of Sports Science at Football Federation Australia (FFA) for four years from 2014 to 2018, during which time the Socceroos won the 2015 Asian Cup.
Holding a PhD in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Sydney and a Master's Degree in Leadership from Deakin University, Duncan has also been a Senior Exercise and Sports Science Lecturer at Australian Catholic University (ACU) since 2013.
He has been an advisor at Elite Performance Partners since 2021 and oversaw the high-performance program for Iran's team when they reached the semifinals of the 2019 Asian Cup.
Duncan has also worked with Sydney FC when they won the A-League Championship, with Western Sydney Wanderers as they became the first Australian team to win the AFC Champions League in 2014, and with the New South Wales team that ended their championship drought in the State of Origin series in 2014 and 2018.
-- BERNAMA
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