AFC holds the 'key' to the future of the Football Association of Malaysia before FIFA

AFC is carrying out a full overhaul of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) after the scandal involving naturalized player records. Specialists caution that FAM must strictly follow all AFC suggestions, otherwise the danger of FIFA suspension is quite evident.

According to Bharian, all parties should be grateful to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the continental football governing body's efforts in implementing the restructuring process for the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). In fact, AFC's action is likened to a “father” trying to save his “child” from harsher punishment, specifically a suspension from the world football governing body (FIFA) following the scandal involving forged documents related to seven naturalized players.

AFC’s comprehensive evaluation of FAM’s administrative system is said to have started today, led by a team of AFC experts headed by AFC Deputy Secretary General Vahid Kardany. Local football observer Datuk Christopher Raj explained that no federation, regional association, or football body wants to suspend its affiliated member.

Christopher, a former member of FAM’s Executive Committee (Exco), believes that the resignation of all FAM Exco members was the right decision. He particularly stressed that a suspension of FAM would be disastrous, as it would impact the entire national football ecosystem, including both men's and women's teams being unable to participate in international competitions.

According to Bharian, Christopher said: “I can say that AFC’s efforts are highly commendable because they want to save Malaysian football, and this is also the best opportunity for FAM to completely ‘restart’. Not everything at FAM is bad; there are still some genuinely good aspects. However, when there is a comprehensive ‘rebuild’, it creates a chance for the good to become even better.”

Moreover, Christopher stressed that FAM must accept and follow all recommendations provided by AFC to implement governance reforms. He said: “This reform must be meaningful. That means the viewpoints and proposals from AFC must be taken seriously and implemented correctly by FAM. Don’t reform and then say ‘we can’t do this, we can’t do that’.”

“When FAM complies with the recommendations, AFC can report to FIFA that they are in the process of restructuring the Football Association of Malaysia. FIFA will also see AFC’s involvement, so no sanctions will be imposed.”

He concluded: “But if FAM ignores AFC’s advice, then suspension is deserved. A simple example is when you fail a math exam and ask your father to send you to the best tutoring center.”