'Suspended FAM sec-gen attended event with Fifa president in personal capacity'

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has clarified that its suspended secretary-general, Noor Azman Rahman, was present at an event recently attended by Fifa president Gianni Infantino in his personal capacity.

FAM acting president Yusoff Mahadi said the photos published by a news portal were taken outside of official FAM or Fifa events or ceremonies.

"FAM takes note of the report published by the portal today regarding the publication of photos showing Noor Azman with Infantino.

"The photos were taken outside of official FAM or Fifa events or ceremonies, and Noor Azman's presence was in his personal capacity and not on official business of FAM,” he said in a statement today.

He added that since being suspended from his duty on Oct 17, Noor Azman (above) has not been involved in any official FAM activities, meetings or programmes.

As such, Yusoff hopes that this explanation will suffice in clarifying the confusion that may have arisen following the report in the news portal.

Suspended with immediate effect

On Oct 17, FAM deputy president S Sivasundaram announced that Noor Azman had been suspended with immediate effect following the disciplinary decision related to the documentation issue involving the eligibility of seven national heritage players.

Last month, FAM and seven heritage players - Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel - were penalised by Fifa's Disciplinary Committee after being found guilty of violating Article 22 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code (FDC) related to document falsification.

In its previous statement, Fifa said FAM had submitted falsified documents to confirm the eligibility of the players, allowing them to compete in the third-round match of the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers against Vietnam on June 10.

As a result, FAM was fined 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 million), while each player was fined 2,000 Swiss francs and suspended for 12 months from all football-related activities, effective from the date of notification of the decision.

FAM, in a previous statement, explained that it had identified a technical error in the submission process involving the seven players’ documents, which was made by an administrative staff member.

FAM also did not rule out the possibility of taking the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) if the appeal at the Fifa level fails to yield a positive outcome.

- Bernama

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