PETALING JAYA: The FA of Malaysia (FAM) has suspended Perlis FA's (PFA) membership in the national football association.
FAM made the announcement at a press conference in Petaling Jaya today following an exco meeting.
This is due to PFA's failure to comply with a Fifa ruling on Dec 4, 2019, to settle the outstanding wages and compensation to their former football director, Matt Holland, amounting to
RM998,000.
"Holland lodged a complaint after PFA failed to settle the outstanding payments, and Fifa released a new ruling on Nov 11 this year that PFA needs to pay the amount along with five per cent interest and a fine of US$15,000 (RM66,945).
"FAM was also named as a second respondent in the complaint due to failure to take action against PFA on the matter," said chairman of FAM internal dispute committee N. Saaran.
He added that FAM was also fined US$5,000 for failing to take action.
He said if PFA still fails to settle the outstanding payments, Fifa will stop giving funds (from the FIFA Forward grant) to FAM until PFA settles its debts.
"The decision to suspend PFA was made according to Articles 17 and 18 in FAM's statute, which clearly states the FAM executive council can suspend a member association if it has failed in obligations as a member.
"This suspension was made to avoid further action against FAM by Fifa, including having to pay all the PFA outstanding debts in this case," Saran added.
Meanwhile the FAM internal dispute committee has also received complaints that Kelantan FA's (KAFA) 65th annual congress and the election of its executive committee for the 2024-2028 term was not carried out with due process.
"We have asked both parties to provide evidence so that the complaints can be verified and are legitimate.
"We have decided that the complaint is valid, and have set a date for a hearing on Dec 19 for KAFA to enter its defence," said Saaran.