Ansar Ibrahim
Defeated by Bhutan. Defeated for a third time.
Defeated in 2017 at the U-18 SAFF Championship by 1-0.
Defeated 2-1 at the 2019 South Asian Games, despite having borrowed three senior players to the U-23 squad.
Defeated yet again in 2024 at the U-20 SAFF Championship, despite having most of the second half played against a 10-man Bhutan.
The despair seems endless. Let us admit it. We cannot see a silver lining to this. Not while we are in the situation we are in.
Towards the Future – Just not a Bright One
The slogan “Towards the Future” has become all too clear – and with that, the dire straits we are in.
What comes to my memory at this point is travelling to Jordan’s Amman for the U-19 AFC Challenge Qualifications back in 2013. If I am not mistaken, that was the first time in history that a Junior National Team of ours had earned a single point in the qualification’s history.
But in Amman, we earned not just one point, but four. We managed to overcome Afghanistan – one of the biggest names in South Asia at the time – a goal from Rizuwan making the difference.
We managed to absorb the pressure of playing against the home team Jordan in the next game. Goalkeeper Laban’s impressive saves rescued Maldives from defeat that day. It ended in a goalless draw. We got off the pitch being on top of the group. Even for a short while, we lived a day to recall with fondness.
The U-19 National team that I was a part of, we may have ultimately fallen short of the result we wanted, but we returned home dreaming of better, brighter days. Maybe that was all we needed at the time; to have something to aspire for, and not be utterly crushed by defeat.
The assistant coach we worked with that day, Shaakitte, is today the head coach of the U-20 team. I am certain that Shaakitte coach can attest to the depth of talent in the junior players today as he would to the squad, we had that day in Jordan; the determination, the fierce patriotism, the hunger to win – Maldivian football players have not lacked in any of that. Not even after the embarrassment of a governing body our FA has become.
What has happened to Club Football?
Our Premier League, the Dhivehi Premier League. I cannot recall a time when the games were played as scheduled, without being paused mid-season.
It’s been almost a year since the last time a first division game was played. Countries competing on different levels of the AFC Cup are gearing up for the league. But we Maldivians have got nothing to show up with; no pre-tournament strategy, no competitive games to determine the players’ fitness.
At this point, it is every man for himself, every club tending for itself. The institution that is supposed to help us is in a coma, deteriorating by the day.
Look at how much trouble our local clubs are in – even the big clubs, ones that compete internationally.
No club of ours have gotten to enjoy the level of regional victory since New Radiant did it. Maziya had to return home frustrated every time they played in that tournament, although nobody who ever watched any of those games had doubted the talent within The Green Boys.
Winning the SAFF Cup in 2018, the victorious tour of TC Sports, the U-19 national team winning bronze, and the bronze medal achieved in 2019 by the women’s team – no other glory besides these few have we got to show for.
But these handful of victories -given the situation our sport is in – are immense achievements. Every international opponent of ours has admitted to the level of raw talent they had to fight against.
Our Leaders have Betrayed Us
And yet, we do not see any progress being made. We have not seen the powers that be take any concrete steps towards reviving the footballing spirit; to get the public to enter the Galolhu Stadium, or to provide opportunities for the players.
They failed to find a way to develop and sustain the talented youth. They failed to utilize the human resources; to pay the wages. To be frank, they did not know how to manage football.
All those insights of good coaches, all the criticism from newspapers, all of it had fallen on deaf ears. What’s worse, they jumped into a rhetorical battle with the media. Tired of the irresponsible governance in the sport, the public has sunk into apathy.
Maldivian footballers and fans today hear the same old song they heard in the past. What else is to be expected, when there is little to zero reporting on the progress being made, if any. Estrangement from football is what is seen everywhere.
While they sing the song “Towards the Future”, an entire generation of footballers is turning into a lost cause. By pretending to live up to the song of “Towards the Future”, they have crushed the hopes of thousands of footballers, myself included – jeopardizing the livelihood of the players and their families.
Listening to the same song of “Towards the Future”, we lost to Sri Lanka. Listening to the same song, we lost to Bhutan three times over. Listening to the same song, even escaping the group stage in the SAFF championship has turned into an insurmountable struggle. Listening to the same song, the clubs sank into the financial crisis they are in, became indebted to the players.
Singing that same song, they distanced themselves from the press. Singing the same song, they let the league crumble and let it drift away.
They made Maldivians become bored of football, and let the game sink into depths never reached before. They ruined the appeal of the game to the point where nobody wants to be a part of it.
In that song, the football that used to be the pride of Maldivians has now become an embarrassment, a nauseating after-thought. Nobody is held accountable. We have lost the strength to even call it out for what it is.
Listening to the same song, the ones responsible for the football family, they not only shrugged off the wrong-doings, they were cheering for it. And either directly or indirectly, all of us were participating in it.
In singing that very song, some individuals’ pockets were inflated, betraying football with no shame. In that song, football could not even be football. Shall we sing the song “Towards the Future”?
There is Still Hope
No. It is time to stop. Talent, skill, stamina, grit – Maldivian footballers embody all of that. Anyone who watches the tournaments taking place in the islands can see that.
Let us start football anew. Let us lift the game up once more. We can still improve. We can still revive the love for the game. What is needed are honest proponents of football. We need leaders who can see the love Maldivians truly have for football.
We need a long-term strategy, and stalwarts to work earnestly towards it. We need a leader who is willing to put aside the self-aggrandizing, and paint the dream of aspiring footballers and fans.
We need leaders who are determined to take Maldivian football to new heights; leaders who would not betray our trust and turn into megalomaniacs.
What we need is a day when Maldivian football can take a sigh of relief, and finally start developing for good.
