KUCHING: Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) has shortlisted several former state players and will include the ongoing Sarawak Cup as a criterion to pick the Sarawak Premier League squad for the new season.

FAS has considered players like defender Fadley Kassim, who was with the disbanded PDRM side last season, Hussein Abdul Razak and Syamsul Napiah, who started for Sarawak at the tailend of last season.

Apart from them, most of last season’s players will also be retained but it’s not clear yet whether those called up by the Anti-Corruption Agency over alleged match-fixing allegations are on the list.

FAS secretary general Abu Bakar Marzuki said the potential Sarawak players for the new season would gather at his house for the Hari Raya celebration in the next few days.

“We will use the Sarawak Cup as part of the selection process while former state players with league experience such as Fadley Kassim and Hussein Abdul Razak are among those called up. “We want to emphasise discipline and will select players based on that criterion,” said Abu Bakar, who will be coming out with an action plan soon.

He confirmed that a few foreign coaches, among them Robert Alberts, who handled Kedah in the early 1990s, had been shortlisted.

With the season to start on Jan 1 next year, Abu Bakar said there was still plenty of time for selection and preparation.

After the opening matches on Jan 1, there will be a two-week break.