PETALING JAYA: Three Akademi Mokhtar Dahari (AMD) players – Izzuddin Afif Nazaruddin, Ilhaam Azani Mohd Azamin and Iman Danish Mohd Shukor – are gaining invaluable experience from training with Bosnian Premier League club FK Sarajevo.

The trio, aged between 16 and 17, are on a three-week stint in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, until July 26.

Izzuddin spoke about how their training experiences in Bosnia were very different from their experiences back home.

‘’The pace and intensity of the game in Bosnia are very high and what I learnt is to dribble with ease and not to hold the ball for too long,’’ said Izzuddin.

As for Iman, he highlighted the strong physical attributes of the players he had seen in Sarajevo.

‘’The important thing I learnt here is their perspective on decision-making - like what to do before and after I have received the ball.’’

Ilhaam said the unpredictable weather conditions in Sarajevo also affected their training differently.

‘’What I am learning here is that the weather in Sarajevo is very unpredictable as sometimes it can be very hot and at other times very cold, which is something new to me,” said Ilhaam, who admired the discipline and endurance of the players at FK Sarajevo.

‘’The Bosnian players are very disciplined both on and off the field and they have great endurance.’’

The three youngsters hope to get selected to play at FK Sarajevo professionally in the future and will be out to make Malaysia proud.

Ilhaam and Izzuddin represented Malaysia in the AFC Under-17 Asian Cup Qualifiers in Laos and are currently part of AMD’s U-17 squad in the President’s Cup while Iman recently played for the national U-16 squad at the FIFA Youth Series held from May 18-22 in Zurich, Switzerland.

The opportunity in Sarajevo comes at the initiative of the National Football Development Programme and National Sports Council (NSC), with strong support from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and FK Sarajevo’s owners Tan Sri Vincent Tan and Ismir Mirvic.