KUANTAN: The FA of Pahang (FAP) have already submitted an appeal to the FA of Malaysia (FAM) and the Malaysia Football League (MFL) to enable the country’s first naturalised player, Mohamadou Sumareh to be registered as a local player after the Gambian born forward obtained Malaysian citizenship in April.
Pahang team manager, Datuk Muhammed Suffian Awang said that the appeal was for the player who features for them in the Malaysia League (M-League) to be registered as a local player.
"As a Malaysian citizen, Sumareh’s contribution and status as a local player cannot be denied especially when playing for Pahang or even the Harimau Malaya squad.
“But we have to adhere to the criteria and regulations set by MFL regarding the status of a player who originates from another country in order to enable Sumareh to feature as a local player.
“This is why we have put forth an appeal when Sumareh was granted Malaysian citizenship,” he said.
Suffian said as much when asked to comment about the issue surrounding Sumareh who will have to wait until 2023 before he can be registered as a local player for M-League action.
Even though he has already obtained Malaysian citizenship and qualifies to play for the Harimau Malaya squad, Sumareh has still yet to fulfil the criteria and regulations set by MFL for foreign players who have been naturalised.
Yesterday (Wednesday), MFL chief executive officer, Kevin Ramalingam said that players who are not of mixed heritage need to obtain citizenship for at least five years before they can be registered as local players.
"We have set the rules and regulations and have announced before this the criteria and qualifying aspects needed for a player to be registered as a local player, and this is not something new.
"Whatever it is, if there is a proposal or appeal to review this criteria, then the secretariat can bring up the matter to be tabled to MFL’s board before any decision is made about it,” said Kevin.
Before this, Sumareh’s status became a hot topic of discussion after he became a Malaysian citizen.
The 23 year old player has an excellent record playing in the M-League since making his debut with Police back in 2013.
Incidentally Sumareh has been living in Malaysia for the past 10 years since he was a 13 year old boy and he began his professional career just four years after coming to the country.