KUALA LUMPUR:The Malaysian Football League (MFL) has decided to cancel the remaining Malaysia Cup matches this season after the National Security Council (MKN) rejected its appeal yesterday.

The decision was reached at a special MFL board of directors meeting today.

MFL chief executive officer Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan said MFL accepted the decision of MKN in not allowing the oldest football tournament in Southeast Asia to continue during the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in all states except  Perlis, Pahang and Kelantan which was extended to Dec 6.

He said MFL decided to cancel the Malaysia Cup competition for the sake of the health and safety of all parties involved in the championship apart from respecting the contract of M-League players ending at the end of this month.

“Firstly, MFL is sensitive to the call of MKN. The government has advised not to proceed with 2020 Malaysia Cup Competition,” he said in a statement issued by MFL after the meeting.

“Obviously in the appeal letter, MFL has prepared detailed plan in line with the standard operating procedure (SOP) to ensure 2020 Malaysia Cup which has seven more matches could go on, but as I said MFL is sensitive to the call of the government,” he said.

Commenting further, Ab Ghani said MFL took the decision to cancel Malaysia Cup as the eight teams who confirmed their berths to the quarter-finals would face an absence of players apart from shouldering the high cost.

In this regard, he said Terengganu FC who are third in the Super League this season would be given the second slot to the 2021 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup following the cancellation of the 2020 Malaysia Cup.

Based on the format planned by MFL, the champions of Malaysia Cup would fill the second slot of the 2021 AFC Cup.

Johor Darul Ta’zim, the seventh consecutive champions of the Super League since 2014 automatically qualified for 2021 Asian Champions League while Kedah as runners-up of the Super League this season will fill the first slot of the 2021 AFC Cup.

On Tuesday, MFL submitted an official appeal letter to MKN to continue the competition this season via tight SOP including holding matches at venues which are not under CMCO.

MFL had proposed Sultan Mohamad Ke-IV Stadium in Kota Bharu and Darul Makmur Stadium in Kuantan, as venues for the quarter-finals and final of Malaysia Cup.

On Monday, Senior Minister (Security Cluster), Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that the MKN decided that Malaysia Cup competition should be postponed to another time as the tournament involved contact among players which could cause risk of COVID-19 infection.

The Malaysia Cup quarter-finalist matches are between JDT and Kuala Lumpur; Penang against UiTM FC; Terengganu FC vs Perak and Kedah meeting Selangor.

The first round of Malaysia Cup was from Nov 6 to 8, while the quarter-finals are from Nov 12 and 13, semi-finals on Nov 17 and final on Nov 22.

-- BERNAMA