Football Association of Malaysia

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Football Association of Malaysia
AFC
Football Association of Malaysia crest.svg
Founded11 September 1926;97 years ago (1926-09-11)
FIFA affiliation1954
AFC affiliation1954 [1]
AFF affiliation1984
PresidentHamidin Mohd Amin
Website fam.org.my

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM; Malay : Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia) is the national governing body of football in Malaysia. The Football Association of Malaysia headquarters is located at Wisma FAM.

Contents

History

Pre-independence

Football arrived in Malaya with the British. The locals soon picked up the game, and before long it was the country's leading sport. Towards the end of the 19th century, football was one of the central pillars of most sports clubs in Malaya. But it was not structured. Even when the Selangor Amateur Football League took shape in 1905 – which ensured proper administration and organisation – the competition was confined only to clubs in the Kuala Lumpur. [2]

In 1921, the battleship HMS Malaya visited the country. After engaging local opposition in football and rugby, the officers and men of HMS Malaya decided to commemorate the matches by presenting trophies for annual competitions in both rugby and football in Malaya. A national tournament featuring all the states that made up Malaya was started. The competition, known as the Malaya Cup (later renamed the Malaysia Cup in 1963), has been continuously since then, except during the war years.

In 1926 the Selangor Amateur Football League was established, and in 1936 the Football Association of Selangor was formed and this association soon started organising tournaments and this inspired other states in Malaya to follow suit. Along the same year in 1926, the Football Associations of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca and the Singapore Amateur Football Association, came together to form the Malayan Football Association (MFA), in order to field a Malayan team against an Australia side that visited Singapore that year.

In 1933, the MFA was revived to form the Football Association of Malaya (FAM). Initially, the FAM was based in Singapore. It was chiefly responsible for the running of the Malaya Cup competition. The annual tournament played along inter-state lines was a huge success.

The first president of FAM was Sir Andrew Caldecott followed by M.B. Shelley, Dr. J.S. Webster, S.D. Scott, R. Williamson and Adrian Clark, who served up until 1940 before Europe went on a full-scale war with Germany. In 1940, control of the FAM moved from Singapore to Malaya, with A.R. Singham becoming the first Asian secretary in 1941.

The FAM's first president after the war was J. E King, to be followed by H.P Byson, and then Dr. C Rawson, who served for two years before vacating for the first ever non-British personality to take over the helm.

In 1951, Tunku Abdul Rahman (who was to become the first Prime Minister of Malaysia) became the FAM president. It was under Tunku Abdul Rahman that football in Malaysia entered its next phase, with the FAM taking a much bigger role than just being the backbone in the organisation of the Malaysia Cup.

FAM was inducted as one of 14 founding members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1956, before becoming a full-fledged member of FIFA two years later.

After independence

Tunku Abdul Rahman's love for the game was the main catalyst which resulted in the construction of the Merdeka Stadium and in 1957 it became hallowed ground for all Malaysians when it was the venue chosen to announce Malaysia's independence from Britain.

It also signalled the birth of the Merdeka Tournament (Pestabola Merdeka) and was once called the ‘Mini Asia Cup’ around the 1960s to 1980s. [3]

The Merdeka Tournament proved to be a huge success, inspiring similar tournaments like the Jakarta Anniversary Tournament in Indonesia, the King's Cup in Thailand and the President's Cup in South Korea. [4] The inaugural tournament then the premier football competition in Asia was won by Hong Kong.

However, Malaya won the title three years in a row, in 1958 and in 1959, and sharing it with South Korea in 1960. The country qualified for the Football at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Following the change in name to the Football Association of Malaysia in the early 1960s, Tunku Abdul Rahman continued to play a big role in the development of the game through various youth competitions.

Following his departure in 1974, the reins of the FAM was taken over by Malaysia's second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, who served for just one year. The post was then filled by Tan Sri Datuk Seri Setia Raja Hamzah Haji Abu Samah in 1976, who was the Minister for Trade and Industry at the time.

Between 1976 and 1984, various football activities were introduced under Tan Sri Datuk Seri Raja Hamzah, and Malaysian football reached a new height in the international arena following his appointment as the AFC president.

During the glory days of Malaysian football in the 1970s and 80s, names like Mokhtar Dahari, Santokh Singh and Soh Chin Ann would strike fear in teams all over Asia.

The FAM entered a new era of modernisation and professionalism when the Sultan of Pahang, Haji Ahmad Shah took over.

The Sultan was integral in the growth of football in the new era with the introduction of the semi-pro league in 1989 before the game went fully professional several years later. However, success on the football field for the national team was not forthcoming.

Among the high points in Malaysian football was the successful hosting of the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, as well as the organisation of the Premier League, which has been called the Malaysia League (M-League) since 2004. Among the low points the National teams suffered defeats never seen before at international stage.

On 13 September 2018, the FAM had been awarded AFC Dream Asia Awards in Developing Category. [5] In 2019, the FAM also been awarded AFC Dream Asia Awards (Bronze) in Inspiring Category. [6]

Associations affiliation

There are 20 Football Associations affiliated to the FAM. Besides the 14 FAs with regional location, six others are affiliated units. [7] [8]

State affiliation

Affiliation units

  • Flag of Malaysia.svg Malaysian Malays Football Association (PBMM)
  • Flag of Malaysia.svg Malaysian Chinese Football Association (MCFA)
  • Flag of Malaysia.svg Malaysian Indian Sports Council (MISC)
  • Flag of Malaysia.svg Royal Malaysia Police Football Association (RMPFA)
  • Flag of Malaysia.svg Armed Forces Football Association (AFFA)
  • Flag of Malaysia.svg Football Coaches Association of Malaysia (PJBM)

The State Associations have their own constitutions and structure. During the early amateur era of Malaysian football, most of the state FAs was made up of small organisation with only some bigger states have an active football league while the smaller FAs will send a team to compete in the Malaysia Cup. [9] [10] [11]

Depending on the size of the state, the State Associations have district associations affiliated to them. Clubs are directly affiliated to the State Football Association alongside the District Football Association.

Each State conducts its own competitions. Competitions are at state level where the winners will have a chances to be nominated by their state FAs for promotion to Malaysia FAM League. [12] There are also inter-district competitions such as Liga Bolasepak Rakyat.

Competitions

The Football Association of Malaysia had run all top football competitions in Malaysia until 2015, when the Football Malaysia LLP (FMLLP), which is now known as the Malaysian Football League (MFL) was formed as part of the privatisation of the Malaysian football league system. The MFL took over all the top professional football competition previously managed by the FAM. The list below are the competitions which are managed by the Malaysia Football League since it inception in 2015: [13]

FAM now focuses on youth development football, women football and futsal Leagues and tournaments in Malaysia: [14]

AFL is a subsidiary of MFL that is responsible to organize and manage lower football leagues in Malaysia.

Awards

Principals

Office-holders [15]
OfficeNameTenure
President Sir Andrew Caldecott 1933
M.B. Shelley
J.S. Webster
S.D. Scott
R. Williamson
J.E. King1927
Adrian Clark????−1940
H.P. Byson1948
C. Rawson
Tunku Abdul Rahman 1958–1974
Abdul Razak Hussein 1975–1976
Hamzah Abu Samah 1976–1983
Ahmad Shah of Pahang 1984–2014
Abdullah of Pahang 2014–2017
Tunku Ismail Idris 2017–2018
Hamidin Mohd Amin2018–
Office-holders [15]
OfficeNameTenure
General SecretaryA.R. Singham1941
Kwok Kin Keng1948–1979
T.P. Murugasu1980–1987
Paul Mony Samuel1988–2000
Dell Akbar Khan 2000-2005
Ibrahim Saad2005–2007
Azzuddin Ahmad2007–2013
Hamidin Mohd Amin2013–2018
Stuart Ramalingam2018–2021
Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar1 September 2021–
NamePositionSource
Flag of Malaysia.svg Hamidin Mohd Amin President [16] [17]
Flag of Malaysia.svg Mohd Joehari Mohd Ayub Vice President [16]
Flag of Malaysia.svg Ab Ghani Hassan 2nd Vice President [16]
Flag of Malaysia.svg S Sivasundaram 3rd Vice President [16]
Flag of Malaysia.svg Rosmadi Ismail 4th Vice President [16]
Flag of Malaysia.svg Subahan Kamal 5th Vice President [17]
Flag of Malaysia.svg Mohd Yusoff Mahadi 6th Vice President [17]
Flag of Malaysia.svg Stuart Ramalingam General Secretary [16] [17]
Flag of Malaysia.svg Ismail Karim Treasurer [16]
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Scott O'Donell Advisor & Agent
Flag of Japan.svg Yusuke Adashi Vice Advisor & Agent
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Scott O'Donnell Technical Director [16] [17]
Flag of South Korea.svg Kim Pan-gon Team Coach (Men's) [16] [17]
Flag of Malaysia.svg Jacob Joseph Team Coach (Women's) [16] [17]
Flag of Malaysia.svg Wan Fakhrul Bakar Media/Communications Manager [16]
Flag of Malaysia.svg P Sentikumar Futsal Coordinator [16]
Flag of Malaysia.svg Kassim Kadir Bacha Referee Coordinator [16]

Management

April 2017 Source: [18] [19]

Executive committee

Standing committees

Emergency
Finance and Management
Local competitions
International competitions
Referees
Internal Audit
Women's Football
Technical and Youth Football Development
Futsal and Beach Soccer
Sports Medicine
Media and Public Relations
Security
Integrity

FAM Judiciary

Disciplinary
Appeals

Club licencing

First Instance Body
Appeals Body

Treasurer

National teams

Malaysia national football team
Malaysia national under-23 football team
Malaysia national under-22 football team
Malaysia national under-19 football team
Malaysia national under-16 football team
Malaysia women's national football team
Malaysia national futsal team
Malaysia women's national futsal team

See also

Related Research Articles

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