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The Story of the AirAsia KL Junior League Supporting youth football in the Klang Valley

When the sixth edition of the AirAsia KL Junior League kicked off in February 2018, the competition made history with its largest season to date making it the biggest cross-age group youth football league in Kuala Lumpur.

The current season includes 71 teams competing across 5 age groups with over 1,500 children playing a total of 710 matches at The New Camp, Bandar Utama.

The KL Junior League has come a long way since its first season in 2015

So how did it all begin?

With football academies growing all over the Klang Valley, it was safe to say that football was and still is one of the largest growing youth sports in Malaysia.

But there was a problem. With all these academies training at weekends (and some during the week), teams were training hard to improve yet only playing irregular friendly fixtures or entering weekend tournaments with short matches.

There was no structure in place to offer teams the opportunity to put what they learn in training into competitive match practice on a regular basis.

In September 2015 the KL Junior League was launched. It started with 32 teams and 4 age groups playing every Sunday morning.

The Under 8s played 5-a-side with the Under 10s to Under 14s playing 7-a-side football. The format was simple: 7 matches over 3 months giving teams the opportunity to put their training into match practice. It gave teams regular, age centric and competitive football.

The format was simple: 7 matches over 3 months giving teams the opportunity to put their training into match practice

The structure of our age groups came from the English FA’s format for youth football. Focusing on young players getting more touches of the ball, the format improves opportunities for decision making to occur.

The league hosted a total of 91 teams between 2015 and 2016

After a successful first season the league came back in 2016 with some new developmental changes.

The introduction of an Under 16 category playing 11-a-side and the U14s moving to 9-a-side with offsides and 2 referees extended the Junior League's reach. The changes also enhanced the level of football, creating a smoother transition for players from smaller sided games to full 11-a-side matches.

September 2015 | Season 1, Week 1 – The first ever KL Junior kicks off at The New Camp, Bandar Utama

October 2015 | Under 10 action as FC Kuala Lumpur take on Ombak FC in the first season of the KL Junior League

February 2016 | SKBD FT take on FC Kuala Lumpur U11 in the second season of the KL Junior League

November 2016 | For its third season, the league added an Under 16 competition playing 11-a-side football

DARING TO DREAM

In 2017 the KL Junior League partnered with AirAsia to introduce the AirAsia KL Junior League with the dream of increasing the opportunities for children to play football in Malaysia. The influx of new times meant an increase in competition and for first time we had 2 groups in an age group competing for the ultimate AirAsia Cup.

The involvement of AirAsia and introduction of League Cups added to the excitement in 2017

FIGHTING FOR THE CUP

Fast forward to 2018 and the current season sees 4 out of 5 age groups with enough teams to form 2 groups. For the first time in 6 seasons, the league will implement qualifying rounds in the journey to becoming AirAsia KL Junior League Champions.

The underlying ethos is still about development though, and when teams get knocked out of the Cup they will play against other teams in the same position with the idea that your last game should always be the most competitive.

With over 70 teams in 2018, the AirAsia KL Junior League offers tough competition

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

The next step for the AirAsia KL Junior League is to increase our number of participants and put teams in the correct development leagues. Separate divisions will mean matches are more competitive and allow each player to see better progress. Players gain very little from winning or losing by large margins as there is no challenge.

We hope the partnership with AirAsia allows the KL Junior League to continue to create something special and ensures that everyone in the Klang Valley and Malaysia truly can play football.

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