KUALA LUMPUR: The First Instance Body (FIB) is ready to take firm action against Kuala Lumpur City FC (KL City) and Kedah Darul Aman FC (KDA FC) if they fail to resolve the salary arrears issue involving both teams by the second deadline of March 30.
The Malaysian Football League (MFL) in a statement today said both teams failed to make a 50 percent payment of the salary arrears for the year 2023 by the initial deadline of March 15, as stipulated by FIB.
FIB chairman Sheikh Mohd Nasir Sheikh Mohd Sharif in the statement said that they are aware that KL City have recently undergone top management changes, and the patron of KL City, Fahmi Fadzil (Minister of Communications), has expressed commitment to promptly settle the outstanding salary matters.
“FIB has also received an official letter from Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) agreeing to contribute to settle the salary arrears of KL City for the year 2023 before the end of March 2024,“ he said.
On KDA FC, he said that the club have provided evidence of a payment of RM600,000 as part of the current salary arrears but it did not comply with the 50 percent payment requirement as set.
“Nevertheless, FIB has received financial evidence of funding sources that will be received by KDA FC soon,“ he said.
If KL City and KDA FC fail to settle all outstanding salary amounts by the second deadline, they will face penalties, including a deduction of three points in the 2024-2025 Super League competition and an immediate fine of RM50,000, as per the Licensing Club Regulations of MFL Edition 2023 Article 2.4 (c) Licensing Sanctions.
“FIB will also reassess the club licence status if they fail to meet the second deadline for salary arrears payments and do not have a solid financial footing to continue competing in the upcoming Malaysian League (Liga-M) season,“ Sheikh Mohd Nasir said.
Meanwhile, the independent body also decided not to grant a National Licence to Perlis United FC (PUFC) due to their failure to meet additional requirements after the announcement regarding the issuance of an M3 Amateur Football League (AFL) Extraordinary Licence on March 7.
According to Sheikh Mohd Nasir, FIB set conditions to ensure that all reasonable financial efforts are made before issuing any licence to PUFC based on four additional criteria, before the submission deadline on March 22.
However, PUFC were found to have failed three out of the four initial conditions by not submitting any documents as requested and had violated all given deadlines.
Sheikh Mohd Nasir said this includes evidence of funds received in PUFC’s account amounting to RM5 million, as stated in the cheque submitted before March 9, besides a declaration signed by officials and players stating that there were no outstanding debts on Dec 31 before March 13.
Elaborating further, he said evidence of sponsorship agreements sealed between PUFC and each of the four potential sponsors to be submitted before March 15 and the first sponsorship payment received by PUFC from sponsors based on the condition of payment before March 22 also needed to be presented.
“The failure of PUFC to obtain the National Licence sees only 13 clubs competing in the Super League for the 2024/2025 season,“ he said. -Bernama
