Saturday, July 30, 2016

AFC monitory developments in Malaysia

The Asian Football Confederation is monitoring closely the developments with regards to Football in Malaysia.

There has been growing concerns that the role played by Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin could be construed as government interference, something the international Football federation (FIFA) deplores and could risk Malaysia facing sanctions.

Khairy has said that he is playing the role of mediator in the conflict surrounding Malaysian Football and has held discussions with both the FAM President Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and JDT owner Tengku Ibrahim Sultan Ibrahim.

And KJ is also seeking a meeting with the FAM Exco to brief them of his solution formula next week.

This has raised eyebrows as it is seen as direct intervention by the Minister especially after it was revealed that FAM Treasurer Dato Seri Norza Zakaria and FAM Head of Finance Dato V. Ampega has provided Tengku Isnail a brief of the financial situation in FAM upon instructions from Khairy.

Both the FAM Deputy President Dato Affandi Hamzah and General Secretary Dato Hamidin Mohd Amin later said they were unaware of the briefing.

AFC General Secretary Dato Windsor John when contacted said , " We are monitoring closely the developments in Malaysia. As to government interference we will act should there be an official complaint from FAM. "

Thus all parties concerned should thread carefully in this matter lest see Malaysia being suspended as was the case of Indonesia

The issue gets more complicated as Tengku Abdullah is a member of the FIFA Executive Board and Malaysia will host the FIFA Congress next year.