A pair of big boots to fill for Joehari in FAM

BARRING unforeseen circumstances, businessman Datuk Mohd Joehari Mohd Ayub will be installed as the president of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) by acclamation on Feb 15.

By virtue of being the sole candidate to earn the minimum six nominations to contest for the presidency, Joehari is set to succeed Tan Sri Hamidin Mohd Amin as the eighth president of the national body since 1951 for the term 2025-2029.

The likes of Datuk Seri Afandi Hamzah, Syed Yazid Syed Omar and Sayf Ismail who had declared their intention to contest the hotseat, did not make the cut as the deadline for nominations ended on Thursday.

Afandi, who was once acting president of FAM, will instead contest a seat in the executive committee, which required only two nominations from the 18 affiliates eligible to vote.

Yazid, president of Kuala Lumpur FA and FAM exco member since 2021, will be vying for one of the four vice-presidency slots.

The preliminary list of nominees suggests an almost total wipeout of the group labelled as Team B, with individuals aligned to the camp such as Datuk Seri Dr. Shahril Mokhtar, Mohd Firdaus Mohamed, Datuk Wira Kamarul Ariffin Mohd Shahar and Abang Zulkarnain Abang Abdurahman, conspicuously missing for the lack of nomination.

The only nominees aligned to Team B, Afandi and Zamri Ibrahim, president of the suspended Perlis FA, are jostling for a seat in the exco.

Firdaus, president of the Malaysian Malays FA (MMFA), reportedly said he did not submit any nomination form due to his lack of faith in the FAM election committee.

Amidst the brouhaha, Joehari, who comes from an illustrious family in Sabah, will be inheriting a national body riddled with issues.

Son of former Sabah minister Datuk Mohd Ayub Aman, Joehari served as team manager to the Sabah Super League outfit from 2003 to 2005 and later was made a vice-president of SAFA.

His uncle, Datuk Anifah Aman, was a vice-president of FAM and a former Sabah FA president. His other uncle is Tun Musa Aman, the newly-appointed Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah.

As the vice-president of FAM since 2017, Joehari who turns 59 in May, has served in various capacities, including chairman of the Status Committee tasked to punish errant clubs for failing to clear salary arrears.

He was also team manager of the FAM-NSC Project Squad, established as one of the pathways for NFDP graduates to pursue tertiary education and a career in football.

But Joehari has big shoes to fill. His low-key approach contrasts with that of the outgoing president Hamidin, a flamboyant and popular figure in the local scene whose influence goes beyond the region.

While Joehari’s tasks were ceremonial in nature before this, Hamidin became president of FAM in 2018 armed with decades of experience in football politics and governance.

Hamidin is celebrating his 30th anniversary in football administration this year, having begun his career as the executive secretary of the FA of Selangor (FAS) in August 1995, four months and 23 days shy of his 30th birthday.

By the time Hamidin was installed as the FAM president in July 2018, it was the culmination of his years of service in various capacities, including as vice-president, general secretary, team manager, chairman of the competitions and futsal committees.

He knew the system inside out.

Within a year into his presidency, Hamidin had launched the FAM Roadmap called F:30, the Affiliates Capacity Enhancement (ACE) project aimed at empowering the affiliates and the Malaysian DNA or a uniformed playing style from top to bottom, aided by the general secretariat headed by Stuart Ramalingam (now Datuk).

The cherry on top of the cake was of course the appointment of Kim Pan-gon, who injected vigour into the Harimau Malaya team that qualified on merit for the AFC Asian Cup after 42 years.

At a glance, Joehari has big shoes to fill.

With FAM celebrating their centenary year next year, Joehari will be in unchartered territory, with the management of the national body’s main assets – the Harimau Malaya – having been outsourced to a group of foreigners, with Rob Friend, footballer-turned-corporate figure, as the chief executive officer and possibly reporting direct to Malaysian footballing supremo, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.

The general secretariat too have come under great scrutiny since the poison pen letter brought the federation into disrepute.

Will Joehari be an executive president or a ceremonial one expected to rubber stamp someone else’s decision?

At the end of the day, Joehari might want to turn to Anifah for a little bit of advice.