FAM and FMLLP are collectively responsible for club licensing in Malaysia. FAM is the licensor that issues the club license(AFC and National) and the league(FMLLP) acts as the club licensing administration.
The regulations are jointly discussed and made to ensure that club licensing system is the platform for the professional development of football in Malaysia.
As the licensor, the national governing body and AFC Member Association, FAM nominates the team(s) to represent Malaysia at AFC Club Competitions. This nomination requires a Club to have an AFC license.
Awarding of this license is based on the FAM Club Licensing Regulations that have been jointly develop with FMLLP, in-line with AFC’s guidelines and the regulations are sent for accreditation by AFC before it is implemented locally.
With regards to Kedah, it is very clear that only clubs which fulfil the criteria set out in the regulations at the deadlines defined by FAM will be granted a license (AFC and National). Therefore only documents that are uploaded onto the AFC Club Licensing Administrative System (CLAS) before the date of the FIB will be reviewed to ensure if license is issued correctly.
At this date, Kedah was not able to submit their audited accounts which is a mandatory criteria. AFC also made it clear that no documents outside the CLAS system can be considered. Thus with the deadline in the CLAS system reached by the date of the FIB, no team was able to upload further documents.
The Appeals Body chose to accept Kedah’s late submission of the audited accounts was to give them room to be considered for a national license. This is allowed for in the regulations whereby exceptions may be made for the granting of national license.
However, if an AFC license was granted at this point, it would not be proper as the CLAS system would reflect that there were no audited accounts submitted.
Thus is it correct for Kedah not to be granted an AFC License and for another team that was granted an AFC License to be nominated for the AFC Cup slot. Should Kedah been issued an AFC license and nominated for the AFC Cup, it would possibly mean that on an audit by AFC, they may find that the license was wrongfully issued and penalise FAM accordingly.
FAM and FMLLP jointly hope that there will be no conspiracy theory or rumours with regards to Kedah being unfairly treated. We had very much hoped that Kedah would be able to participate and be successful.
It is FAM and FMLLPs intention to have the strongest teams represent Malaysia at the AFC Club competition in order to accumulate ranking points for our future participation.
However Kedah have been given every opportunity to comply with all regulations before the FIB and though they have failed to be granted an AFC License, they have been granted a national license to participate in Super League 2018.
In addition to this, FAM had already sent an official letter to Kedah Football Assocation (KFA) on the 1st November 2017 with regards to the decision made by the Appeals Body which states that Kedah was only granted a FAM club license and was refused an AFC club license which makes Kedah ineligible to participate in the AFC Cup 2018. With this also denying accusations on the media that they were not informed on this matter.
DATO’ HAJI HAMIDIN HAJI MOHD AMIN
FAM GENERAL SECRETARY
