PETALING JAYA, July 20 — The status of Sri Pahang midfielder Lee Tuck and striker Sergio Aguera as naturalised players will only be known after the Malaysia Football League (MFL) hears an appeal from the club in the near future.
MFL chief executive officer Stuart Ramalingam said they had received the letter presented by Sri Pahang on the matter and it would be forwarded to the Board of Directors of the governing body.
“After the Board of Directors gathers and hears the case or appeal from Pahang, the MFL will then release an official statement.
“This matter is still under process between the MFL and Sri Pahang... I can say that the process is going on very smoothly,” he told a media conference after the extraordinary general meeting here today.
Elaborating, Stuart said the matter involved rules stipulated in the M-League Manual.
The rules in question are in Article 3.4.9 of the M-League Manual, namely Rules and Conditions of Players — Acquiring Malaysian Citizenship Under the article, any player who obtains Malaysian Citizenship via naturalisation as enforced by the government and wishes to be registered as a local player must prove citizenship status as being more than five years before the date of the first match of the new season.
The 34-year-old Tuck was born in England while Aguera, 28, hails from Argentina, with both players having featured in the M-League since 2017.
Previously, there were rumours that Sri Pahang were making efforts to register both these players as local players considering they have played in the country for five years.
However, they could not do so due to the rules stipulated in the M-League Manual and it was learned that Sri Pahang will submit an appeal for the MFL to review the rules at the MFL Congress to be held in September. — Bernama
