KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 — The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) will wait for world governing body Fifa to make a decision before taking the next step in resolving the dispute between the Pahang Football Association (PFA) and their former player, Mohamadou Sumareh.

FAM secretary-general Stuart Ramalingam said any action or punishment at the domestic level could only be taken once Fifa had announced a decision regarding a complaint Sumareh previously lodged against the PFA.

Like the case involving former Kedah player Muhammad Akhyar Abdul Rashid’s controversial switch to Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) in 2018, Stuart stressed that FAM would definitely take action regarding the matter.

“FAM are just waiting to see whether Fifa will hear the case (Sumareh’s report) or will they refer the matter back to FAM.

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“It’s not sure yet whether Fifa will take up the case because normally only foreign players can take their case to Fifa and those involving local players are settled internally in the country. In Sumareh’s case, he was registered as a local player,” Stuart told Bernama today.

Stuart, however, did not discount the possibility that Fifa may still look at the report regarding the salary arrears his employers, PFA, owed to the Gambian-born player.

“FAM must wait until Fifa have finished their process before we can take over. And that too only if we get the clearance to do so from Fifa. If not, Fifa may classify it as a special case which they wish to hear,” he said.

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Sumareh, 25, has been granted Malaysian citizenship and donned the Harimau Malaya jersey after undergoing the naturalisation process in 2018.

Sumareh completed his move to Thailand League’s Police Tero FC on September 7, just two weeks after Pahang coach Dollah Salleh revealed that the player did not attend any team training sessions for a month since early August.

Sumareh, who had a contract with Pahang until 2022, also did not feature in any of Pahang’s Super League matches despite the Malaysia League (M-League) resuming on August 28.  — Bernama