KUALA LUMPUR – Former Kuala Lumpur Football Association president Khalid Samad believes that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the Malaysian Football League (MFL) should do more to understand and address the issues faced by football clubs.
The 66-year-old’s remarks follow the ongoing financial crisis at Kuala Lumpur City FC, which has reached a breaking point.
The club’s captain, Paulo Josue, recently revealed that he had not received his salary for seven months and was relying on his savings.
As the only football club from Kuala Lumpur competing in the Super League, the City Boys have faced multiple financial challenges over the past two years.
The situation worsened when Rinani Group Bhd, one of the club’s biggest stakeholders, reduced its sponsorship from 51% to 10% in 2022.
In November last year, the club’s chief executive, Stanley Bernard, and Khalid took separate loans totalling RM300,000 to pay their players, whose salaries were several months overdue.
Khalid asserted that the financial issues plaguing local football clubs could be mitigated if FAM and MFL took a more proactive interest in understanding their problems.
“Both FAM and MFL should learn about the struggles faced by the clubs, as the national team is nothing without the clubs providing the players.
“If they need the players for the national team, they should also take extra care of the problems the clubs are going through. For example, regularly checking in with the clubs about their current financial status.
“On top of that, FAM and MFL should also do more to help the clubs find additional stakeholders if they realise they are facing issues, as not all the clubs are funded by state governments and royalty.
“Instead of taking action when things go wrong, they should also come up with precautions to stop these kinds of issues from happening,” Khalid said at a press conference today.
Previously, MFL chief executive Datuk Stuart Ramalingam told Scoop that troubled football clubs should be transparent and come forward to explain their financial situation and their solutions to safeguard the image of the Super League.
Reports indicated that clubs such as Sri Pahang FC, Perak FC, Sabah FC and Kedah FC had also been struggling to pay their salary arrears since the beginning of this season’s Super League campaign.
There have also been incidents where several players from Sri Pahang FC have taken to social media to criticise their employers.
Meanwhile, Khalid, who is also a former Federal Territories minister and current Amanah communications director, stressed that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), as the biggest shareholder of KL City FC, should allocate more funds from its budget to resolve the club’s ongoing issues.
“DBKL’s income in 2023 is RM2.38 billion. This income is obtained from the people in Kuala Lumpur, including from development projects.
“All DBKL has to do is allocate 0.5% of the funds, which is equivalent to RM11.9 million per year, and that’s more than enough for the club to survive.
“I personally believe that the club needs RM14.35 million to run its expenditure and ensure its longevity.
“I hope DBKL can start allocating more funds for KL City to avoid all the salary arrear problems that the club is experiencing,” Khalid added.
KL City FC currently rank fourth in the Super League with seven points from four matches. – July 17, 2024
