KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin, while supporting the role played by the Malaysia Football League (MFL) in lifting the standard of the game locally, admits that there is still much it (MFL) can do.
“I have personally seen MFL achieve a lot of positives in raising the level and quality of the domestic league since it was established four years ago.
“Among them being that each team is now viewed as a stakeholder in the Malaysia League (M-League) and no longer just an affiliate,” he said in a statement today.
He was commenting on a statement by Sabah Football Association (SAFA) acting president Datuk Peter Anthony, who was of the opinion that FAM should be given full power in handling the management of national football.
The statement was made after the MFL announced a 50 per cent deduction of annual grant and player transfer ban on seven M-League teams on Monday.
Hamidin also listed several other MFL achievements, among them being Malaysia’s involvement in the Asian Champions League (ACL) through club licensing as well as cooperation with the La Liga (Spain) and J-League (Japan) to strengthen the domestic league’s administrative system.
Apart from that, he said MFL also helped set up the independent refereeing body, Professional Match Officials Malaysia (PMOM), in a bid to elevate the standard of refereeing in the M-League, in addition to implementing economic control measures aimed at strengthening the financial management system of competing teams.
As such, Hamidin hoped that all parties, especially the 24 M-League teams who are MFL partners, to continue giving their backing and cooperation towards boosting the success of domestic football.
“I admit that there is still a long way to go and a lot more that needs to be done by MFL. Yet, the first steps have been taken and we must not look back. Instead, we should strive forward together and help MFL further improve our domestic league.
“I hope all teams competing in the Super League and Premier League will stay calm because I am sure MFL will distribute the annual grants to all teams once certain issues relating to new sponsorship matters are resolved,” he explained. — Bernama
