PJ City rubbish rumours of Super League withdrawal

PETALING JAYA: Petaling Jaya City are here to stay and will be part of the 2023 Super League.

Rumours were abound that the Klang Valley-based club could pull out of the tournament, with some even saying that it was “90%” confirmed that they would withdraw from the league.

It seemed that the current owners were looking to sell the club, but the club’s chief executive officer S. Ganesh has quashed those rumours.

“The Phoenix will be there in the Super League. The club are not for sale. Of course, some people like to spread rumours, but I am here to state on record that we are here to stay,” he said.

But he did reveal that the club were undergoing an internal restructuring to ensure that they would be commercially viable for next season’s challenge.

“It is too early to say what those changes are, and I am not privy to share it with anyone yet,” said Ganesh.

“It is an internal restructuring, and in due course, we will announce some things, but for now, we will not reveal anything.

“We’ve successfully completed the Malaysia Football League (MFL) licencing and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) guidelines for club licences.

“We just need to ensure that we are commercially viable and reduce the burden of the owners, which is the QI Group.”

Since taking over from MISC-MIFA in 2019 and renaming it to PJ City, the club have finished eighth in 2019 and seventh in 2020 and 2021.

In 2021, the club decided to go all-local with no foreign players, and the move were lauded by many followers of the game in Malaysia.

Since introducing their motto “Yakini Lokal” (Trust in Locals), they have seen some of their players, playing for the national team, especially goalkeeper Kalamullah Al-Hafiz, striker Darren Lok, winger V. Ruventhiran and playmaker R. Kogileswaran.

This year, PJ City are currently 10th in the Super League standings with 17 points from 18 games. They will take on Kedah at the Darulaman Stadium in Alor Setar today.