Status of suspended M-League to be known soon

The status of the 2020 Malaysian League (M-League) football competition, which has been suspended since March 16 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to be known soon.

This follows Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s statement today that he had received an official application from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to resume the prestigious local league competition.

Ismail Sabri said all issues and problems arising from the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) would be discussed by all the ministries concerned at a meeting tomorrow.

“I have received a letter (official application) from the Youth and Sports Minister asking us to make a decision on football, whether the football league can resume or not. As I have announced earlier, it cannot be allowed (to resume) too soon, so the question is when.

“All matters related to the ministries will be discussed tomorrow. If I don’t announce it tomorrow, then maybe on Friday,” he told a daily news conference on the MCO here today.

Yesterday, Ismail Sabri said the government was prepared to allow the M-League to resume after the MCO was lifted and that the competition could possibly restart by November based on certain standard operating procedure (SOP) like playing in empty stadiums.

FAM and the Malaysia Football League (MFL) have postponed all football activities under their charge since March 16 because of the COVID-19 outbreak and the enforcement of the MCO.

On April 24, FAM confirmed sending an official application, via the Youth and Sports Ministry, to the National Security Council (NSC) and the Health Ministry.

FAM said it and MFL were ready to resume the league and would like to seek the views of the authorities and approval of an SOP for conducting the competition.

Several countries including South Korea, Italy and Germany which have reported more COVID-19 cases than Malaysia have started easing the conditions for holding professional football activities.

-- BERNAMA