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🇻🇳 Vietnam /Sports

Malaysia football faces another controversy after naturalization scandal

From Tuổi Trẻ · () Vietnamese

Translated from Vietnamese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • The Football Association of Malaysia is preparing to elect leaders on Sept. 17, 2026, after sanctions over the illegal naturalization of players.
  • A sports lawyer questioned whether election committee chairman Abdullah Mohamad Said meets new rules requiring the chair and deputy chair to be qualified practicing lawyers.
  • Critics are calling for a transparent and substantive reform, while the dispute could create legal risks for the election and potentially reach the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Malaysia’s football reform effort has run into another dispute less than two weeks before the election of a new Football Association of Malaysia leadership. The legal status of the person overseeing the vote is now under scrutiny.

The FAM extraordinary congress will elect an executive committee on Sept. 17, completing the organization’s structure for the remainder of the 2025-2029 term. The presidency is contested by Malaysian Football League chairman Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan and Selangor Football Association deputy president Datuk Seri Shahril Mokhtar. FAM says all candidates have passed checks under its statutes and election procedures.

The questions concern Prof Datuk Dr Abdullah Mohamad Said, chairman of the FAM election committee. According to New Straits Times, commercial and sports lawyer Nik Erman Nik Roseli asked whether Abdullah meets the 2026 FAM election code. The new rules require the committee’s chairman and deputy chairman to be qualified to practice law, rather than merely possessing general legal knowledge.

FAM cannot organize a wayang, a theatrical performance, in which the result has been arranged behind the scenes.

· Datuk Dr Pekan RamliThe sports analyst criticized any election that would fail to deliver genuine reform.

Abdullah has run FAM elections since 2020 and announced the results of the 2025 vote. His publicly available academic record, however, is mainly linked to urban and environmental fields and does not relate to sport. The article stresses that this does not prove a violation, but says it creates a legal risk for the election. New Straits Times warned that the issue could be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The Asian Football Confederation declined to answer the newspaper’s questions on Sept. 7.

The dispute comes as Malaysian public opinion demands genuine reform after the federation was criticized by the AFC and FIFA. Sports analyst Datuk Dr Pekan Ramli said FAM must not stage a “wayang,” or theatrical performance, with the result arranged behind the scenes. He said the winner must intend to reform rather than serve as a “proksi,” or proxy. Pekan also called for a transparent, genuinely competitive election and said 60% to 70% of the new executive committee should consist of new faces.

The winner must genuinely intend to reform, not simply become a proxy for someone else.

· Datuk Dr Pekan RamliPekan described the qualities he wants from the next FAM leader.
About this summary

Originally published by Tuổi Trẻ in Vietnamese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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