PERSATUAN Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM) mengambil pendekatan ‘kunci mulut’ berhubung spekulasi pemain berdarah campuran Belgium-Malaysia, Dion Cools yang dikatakan bakal menyarung jersi Harimau Malaya dalam masa terdekat. Setiausaha Agung FAM, Stuart Ramalingam berkata, beliau tidak boleh memberikan sebarang kenyataan berhubung status Cools yang dikhabarkan sudah mendapat ‘lampu hijau’ daripada kelabnya, FC Midtylland.
Malaysia s forward Mohamadou Sumareh fights for the ball with Indonesia s captain Rudolof Yanto Basna (with red armband) during the 2022 World Cup-2023 Asian Cup second-round qualifying Group G match at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, November 19, 2019. GLENN GUAN/The Star
PETALING JAYA: The Pahang Football Association (PFA) are ready to defy FIFA’s order for them to pay their former striker Mohamadou Sumareh US$1.2mil (RM4.9mil).
Former Pahang manager Datuk Suffian Awang, now the chief executive officer of the team, said they would fight the case and seek international lawyers’ help to appeal it.
He confirmed that the PFA had received a letter from FIFA, asking them to pay the sum after Sumareh lodged a complaint with the world federation over unpaid salaries.
There are not many people who want to invest huge sums of their own money like Zamsaham. The Malaysian footballing fraternity must welcome figures like him in order to help the country s football industry. We must discuss this matter cordially, and I have been mandated with the task of welcoming Norizam to the discussion table with Stuart (FAM secretary-general Stuart Ramalingam) and Dato’ Ghani (MFL CEO Dato’ Ab Ghani Hassan) soon.
Stuart Ramalingam. Photo by Zulhilmi Zainal I want FAM and MFL to hash the issue out so that everyone comes out of the discussion satisfied, said Yusoff.
But just hours later, the Malaysia Premier League club posted on its Facebook account demand letters they have sent through lawyers to MFL, for payments Norizam had earlier claimed are owed by the organisation to the Red Warriors. The most recent letter is dated 15 January 2021
Although the Wednesday press statement committee did not specify whether the team s new owner is responsible for the debt, Malaysian new agency Bernama then published a short interview with FAM secretary-general Stuart Ramalingam with the headline that Kelantan FC will have to settle the debts or face league points-deduction.
Stuart Ramalingam
Norizam, who is also known as Zamsaham, reacted badly to these developments. On Thursday, he made several social media posts condemning FAM s decision and the privatisation drive undertaken by Malaysian professional teams last year. After Kelantan were separated from KAFA as Kelantan FC, Norizam purchased the club for RM6.8 million, along with its numerous debts.