AFC fine FAM RM236,908 for six different charges

PETALING JAYA: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have come down hard on the Football Association of Malaysia ( FAM) over several offences – including misconduct by fans, players and officials at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in August and the Asian Cup qualifiers in September.

FAM have been fined a total of US$56,000 (RM236,908) after being found guilty of six different charges from five matches.

Crowd trouble was the biggest culprit as the Malaysian supporters’ group Ultra Malaya’s insulting chant – labelling their opponents as dogs – in the SEA Games matches against Brunei and Singapore resulted in a US$15,000 (RM63,475) fine for each match.

Crowd troubles at two other SEA Games matches – Malaysia-Indonesia and Indonesia-Cambodia – saw FAM being fined US$7,500 (RM31,751) and US$5,000 (RM21,167).

Fans at the Malaysia-Indonesia semi-final match had let off firecrackers while bottles were thrown onto the pitch in the Indonesia-Cambodia clash.

FAM were also penalised US$7,500 (RM31,751) for crowd trouble – throwing objects onto the field – during Malaysia’s 1-1 draw with Hong Kong in their 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers Group B match at the Hang Jebat Stadium in Melaka on Sept 5.

The AFC also punished FAM US$6,000 (RM25,399) after the Harimau Malaya players were found guilty of harassing match officials at the end of the same match.

National coach Eduardo Vingada was handed a US$5,000 (RM21,167) fine for making “insulting comments” about match officials to the press following the 1-1 draw with Hong Kong.

National skipper Safiq Rahim was fined US$1,000 (RM4,233) following his red card for stomping on Hong Kong’s Daniel Cancela Rodriguez’s hip in the return-leg tie, which Malaysia lost 2-0 at the Hong Kong Stadium on Oct 10.

The AFC have finalised the venue for the long postponed 2019 Asian Cup Group B qualifying match between Malaysia and North Korea.

Next month’s matches will be held at the I-Mobile Stadium in Buriram, Thailand. The first match – on Nov 10 – will be North Korea’s home game while the second – on Nov 13 – will be Malaysia’s home fixture.