PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Football League (MFL), via their board of directors have unanimously agree to cancel Perlis participation in the Malaysia League (M-League) effective today (Wednesday).
In a press statement issued earlier today (Wednesday), MFL chief executive officer Kevin Ramalingam said that the decision by MFL’s board of directors to cancel Perlis’ league participation was made after careful examination of financial documents that were handed over by the Perlis FA (PFA) last Monday (February 18).
Based on the financial documents that were handed over by PFA, MFL’s board of directors found that the source of income for PFA including from sponsorship based on their financial planning were insufficient to manage the team for competition in the M-League this season.
MFL had already provided assistance and enough space for Perlis to try to resolve their financial problems and eventually a decision had to be made to ensure that no further damage is done to the players and the M-League.
With the decision to revoke or rather cancel Perlis’ participation in the M-League, MFL were also aware and concerned about the uncertainty and potential troubles that will be faced by the Perlis players. Therefore, MFL’s board of directors have also agreed to extend the transfer window or rather registration of players for Perlis’ players for another 30 days starting from today (Wednesday) to enable them to find new teams to play for since the transfer window for registering players closes tonight (Wednesday) at 11.59pm.
Apart from Perlis’ case, MFL are also reviewing and keeping an eye on six other teams who are also facing financial issues and problems such as salary arrears, but for now they have only announced a decision regarding Perlis first as it is very serious and has already garnered widespread attention.
MFL’s board of directors are now going over the six other cases and those teams that are affected will now their fate soon enough as MFL will be issuing decisions in the very near future.
For the record, Perlis ‘earned’ their slot to replace Petaling Jaya City in the Premier League after the club formerly known as Mifa were promoted to the Super League following the withdrawal of Felcra FC from league competition.
Perlis were chosen to be moved up to the Premier League because at the time, the FA of Malaysia (FAM)opened the door for interested teams and eventually three teams were nominated, namely Kuching FA, Armed Forces and Perlis from the FAM Cup to fill the empty slot for the Premier League based on the respective teams financial planning and standings.
From the three teams, MFL’s board of directors made their decision based on the strength of supporters and fan following, if there were any financial problems and financial planning which were the main factors behind Perlis’ selection to play in the Premier League this season.
The Perlis FA (PFA) and MFL had come to a mutual agreement where the state football association were given a period of sixty days to resolve their financial problems and issues as MFL froze their annual grant on December 28 last year.
MFL had then requested that PFA president, Datuk Ahmad Amizal Shaifit Ahmad Rafie submit all the necessary documents on their finances before February 15 (last Friday), however the financial documents that were handed in were insufficient and PFA were given a further 48 hours to submit complete or rather additional financial documents which they failed to do.