PETALING JAYA: The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) are expected to address the controversies surrounding the national body at a special press conference in Kelana Jaya today.
FAM are facing mounting scrutiny following the findings of the Independent Investigation Committee led by former Chief Justice Tun Md Raus Sharif, which failed to identify those responsible for the falsification of documents involving seven heritage players who are currently serving FIFA suspensions.
Among the recommendations put forward by the committee were that FAM should immediately lodge a police report to allow the authorities to conduct a full and proper investigation into the origin of the suspected forged documents and to identify those responsible.
The committee also recommended that FAM’s disciplinary committee initiate internal disciplinary proceedings against their suspended secretary-general Datuk Noor Azman Rahman, in accordance with due process.
However, confusion deepened after the report, which was published on FAM’s official website, was taken down just 24 hours later.
FIFA have since imposed additional sanctions, overturning the results of three international friendly matches involving the Harimau Malaya.
The affected matches were against Cape Verde, Singapore and Palestine, and FAM were also fined 10,000 Swiss francs (RM51,414).
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have also handed FAM a fine, but the offence was unrelated to the issues currently under scrutiny.
The issues, however, were relatively minor, involving two breaches during Malaysia’s Asian Cup qualifier against Nepal at the Bukit Jalil Stadium on Nov 18.
The sanctions were decided at the AFC disciplinary and ethics committee meeting on Monday (Dec 15), with the first fine imposed for a delayed kick-off.
According to the AFC, the match started one minute and 20 seconds late in the first half, while the second half was delayed by a further one minute and 30 seconds.
As a result, FAM were fined US$2,000 (RM10,192) for breaching Article 2.2 of the AFC Competition Operations Manual.
In a separate decision, FAM were also penalised for failing to ensure that national winger Faisal Halim attended the mandatory post-match press conference.
This led to a further fine of US$10,000 (RM40,770) being imposed on FAM for violating Article 4.3.8 of the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 competition regulations, while Faisal was separately fined US$10,000 (RM40,770) for breaching Article 31.3.
