FFP to help deal with local football salary issue

PETALING JAYA: The implementation of ‘Financial Fair Play’ (FFP) which will be used by the Malaysian Football League (MFL) for this season will focus on dealing with the issue of salary arrears of local football clubs.

MFL chief executive officer Datuk Stuart Ramalingam said previously the Malaysian League (M-League) only found out about the player’s salary problem from local media reports without knowing the source.

Therefore, he said, the implementation of FFP will ensure that all details regarding salary payments will be monitored by MFL through the documentation requested from national football clubs.

“We have a basic idea of which (players) are paid salary, so on that basis, FFP in the first year may not eliminate the problem as a whole, could deal with it early when something like this happens. We will take early action to request certain documentation from the club to coordinate the payment of salaries in the season, this is the first phase of FFP,” he told reporters recently.

On Monday MFL in a statement said that FFP will be implemented to replace the Economic Control Programme in 2020.

According to MFL, an in-depth study has been carried out by the MFL Club Licensing Unit to adapt FFP to the national football ecosystem and referred FFP to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The system adapted to the needs of M League, has already been agreed by the MFL Board of Directors in a meeting held on March 6, 2024.

Meanwhile, commenting on Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology Stuart said the accuracy of the decision is more of a priority for the system than speed.

“I hope the fans will understand, in the first few weeks the officials may take longer than usual. We have never had VAR in Malaysia. But if people compare the VAR in other countries that have been around for two or three years with the VAR in Malaysia, the reason is that the referee needs to take time to make the right decision,” he said.

On Thursday, FAM announced that VAR for the M League competition in the 2024/2025 season had been officially recognisd and approved by the International Football Federation (FIFA) on Monday. — Bernama