The salaries of the Malaysian League footballers should be realistic to reduce the burden of the contesting football associations or clubs.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said, at the same time, the football associations and clubs should operate according to their financial capability or look for sponsors to help ease the burden of the team.

"There is no need to have players with big salaries, including the imported ones, Instead, just use the young back up players to reduce the costs," he told reporters after delivering his message to the SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games contingent at the Renaissance Hotel here last night.

The hotel is the official accommodation for the Malaysian contingent.

After Kelantan and Perlis, Selangor has become the latest team to pull out of the M-League due to financial turmoil which hit the state football association.

Khairy said one state should not have two teams, instead they should collaborate to strengthen a team to save money.

"Actually, in the case of Selangor, there is a way out, which is no need of two teams. PKNS is a state government agency and it supposed to sponsor state team.

"Since there is no attempt to merge the two teams, eventually, Selangor team might not be participating in the M-League. We have to get rid of our ego," he said.

The minister said the financial issue of the M-League teams had reached critical level because most teams rely on funds from the respective state governments.

He also admitted that huge fund was needed to manage a team, particularly during the privatisation era of the league.

"Unlike the time when I handled the My Team, the budget was between RM3 and RM4 million, but now such budget is not enough to even pay the players' salaries," he added. - BERNAMA