KUALA LUMPUR: FA Cup finalists Felda United are now officially known as “The Fighters”.
Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad said the new name was to keep up with the times. The former Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar said the old nickname, “The Settlers”, was not appropriate for the football team anymore.
“For the last 58 years, we were known as ‘settlers’ ... but not anymore ... they now own lands. ‘The Fighters’ is more appropriate for the Felda football team because they will be inspired to fight till the end,” he said at the Felda United FC press conference at Menara Felda here on Wednesday.
The Premier League outfit will meet Pahang in the FA Cup final at the Shah Alam Stadium on Saturday.
Mohd Isa said the team will not be short of fan support as they’ve made arrangements to bring in the Felda supporters, totalling more than 112,000 families.
The FA of Malaysia (FAM) have allocated 70,000 tickets for the final. Both teams have been given 30,000 tickets each while the balance 10,000 tickets will be sold online via www.tickethotline.com.my.
“It won’t be a problem to get 30,000 supporters to be at the stadium. We have 315 Felda schemes all over Malaysia, including 100 in Pahang alone. If given more tickets – say 50,000 – we can still bring in a fair number of supporters,” said Mohd Isa, who added that Felda were no one-season wonders.
He revealed that Felda have drawn up plans to develop the game.
“Football is national interest ... we at Felda also want to play our part in helping the national body in any way possible,” said Mohd Isa.
Among their plans include the construction of a new football stadium – Stadium Jengka in Pahang by 2016. He said the new 30,000-capacity stadium will be the new homeground of the Felda team.
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