HÀ NỘI — Karl-Heinz Weigang, former coach of Việt Nam national football team and the national Malaysian team, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 82 in Germany.

Perak Football Association (PAFA) Deputy President Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya confirmed the news and said Weigang died from a heart attack.

"I’m too sad to comment. He is a legend for Perak and Malaysian football," he said in a text message.

Weigang was the head coach and technical director of Perak football team from last year until this February when he resigned from the post due to the team’s poor result.

Weigang was the first foreign coach to guide the Việt Nam team. Fifty one years ago, at the age of 31, he coached famous players such as Phạm Huỳnh Tam Lang, Nguyễn Văn Mộng, Đỗ Thới Vinh and Nguyễn Văn Ngôn to win the Merdeka Cup. In 1995, he coached Vietnamese team to bag silver medal in the Southeast Asian Games. It was Việt Nam’s first international medal. After that, Việt Nam won a bronze medal in the Tiger Cup in 1996.

Weigang said good bye to the Việt Nam team in 1997.

Before, Weigang was synonymous with Malaysian football.

His most notable achievement as national coach was guiding Malaysia to qualify for the 1980 Moscow Olympics – although Malaysia withdrew from playing due to a United States-led boycott following the former Soviet Union’s intervention in the Afghanistan war.

Weigang had also coached Perak team and led the silver state to two Malaysia Cup victories in 1998 and 2000.  — VNS