Annuar and Azim spice up battle for FAM presidency

PETALING JAYA: Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin is the frontrunner for the president’s post but now he has to contend with two others.

Former deputy president Tan Sri Annuar Musa came out of nowhere to join the fray just before the nomination closed at 5pm yesterday.

Recently-elected deputy president of Olympic Council of Malaysia Datuk Seri Abdul Azim Mohd Zabidi was the first to announce contesting against Hamidin on Thursday.

The hotseat is up for grabs at the 46th FAM Congress on July 14, after Tunku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim stepped down on March 25 – a year after helming the governing body.

FAM in a statement yesterday confirmed that the three candidates have submitted their nomination forms.

Hamidin was endorsed personally by Tunku Ismail personally to succeed him.

He also received full backing from the existing FAM office bearers, including the two deputy presidents Datuk Wira Yusoff Mahadi (currently the acting president) and Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal.

But what Hamidin probably didn’t expect was the challenge from the outsiders in the last two days before the closing of the nomination. The nomination was opened since April 2.

The FAM statute states that any individual can run for the president’s post if they are nominated by the FAM affiliates.

Azim was nominated by the Pahang FA while Annuar, who was previously deputy to Sultan Ahmad Shah from 2010-2014, was endorsed by the Kuala Lumpur FA.

Annuar, who retained his Ketereh parliamentary seat in the just-concluded 14th General Election for a third term, is bidding to become the FAM No. 1.

Last year, he took on Tunku Ismail, only to pull out at the eleventh hour for the latter to win the seat uncontested.

As for Azim, his intention certainly raised many eyebrows considering he’s already having too much on his plate.

Besides the OCM deputy president’s post, Abdul Azim is also the chairman of the National Sports Institute.

But Azim will be no pushover as he boasts an impressive corporate background in banking which includes the Bank Simpanan Nasional chairmanship.