PETALING JAYA: The top six clubs in this year’s Super League stand to win more than RM1mil each for the first time.
And the champions will cash in a lucrative prize money of RM2.4mil.
The new 2023-2025 merit-based income distribution system introduced this year by the Malaysian Football League (MFL) has certainly won thumbs up from all the players and coaches.
Kuala Lumpur coach Bojan Hodak (pic) said a much better distribution for this year’s league was timely.
“It had been all talk before but now it has become reality,” said Hodak.
“This is good. I hope in the future it would be bigger. Professionals are playing for the money, and money is important,
“The distribution pool is now better for the players and clubs. It shows that the league is growing and we are seeing the results of it through performance too.
“In the region, we are getting stronger. We can now dominate against clubs from Indonesia and Singapore.”
The rate of income distribution to all 14 clubs competing this season saw an increase of 96.55 per cent which is RM15.675 million compared to RM7.975 million distributed to the same 14 clubs in 2022.
In fact, even the bottom teams still carry a winning prize amounting to RM600,000 compared to only RM250,000 last season.
MFL chief executive officer Stuart Ramalingam said the merit-based income distribution system was presented to all league partners in a meeting with the chief executive officers of the Malaysian League clubs on Feb 15.
“This income distribution system is seen to be fairer for clubs that exhibit excellent performance throughout the 2023 Malaysian League season,” said Stuart.
“The presentation got quite a good reaction, and they accepted the proposal to be introduced this year.”
Meanwhile, MFL president Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan said the increase in income distribution to all Super League clubs this season was a positive sign for the development of the MFL.
“It is the MFL’s responsibility as the governing body of the league to try to increase the income of the clubs, and we believe that with the cooperation of corporate companies and broadcasting partners, the league can continue to be commercialised.”
In 2021-2022, following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the distribution was based on two areas, namely equal distribution of RM500,000 to each Super League club and RM250,000 to each Premier League club and only clubs in the top three earn additional prize money.
