BY NIK AFIQ Follow on Twitter
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has released the confirmed candidates list for the upcoming election during the FAM's 53rd Annual Congress Meeting next month.
The election, which is set to take place on March 25, will see the Exco members voting for those who will be in charge of the association for the 2017-2021 term, including a new president.
For the presidential seat, the owner of the JDT football club, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim (TMJ) is set to go head to head against former Kelantan Football Association (KAFA) president, Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
It will be a two-horse race between the two, as Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin and the chairman of Integrity Committee in FAM, Tan Sri Aseh Che Mat have earlier withdrawn their names from the race.
For the role of deputy presidents, Dato’ Sri Afandi Hamzah will fight for his current position against two other candidates, Datuk Wira Yusoff Mahadi and Selangor FA's Dato’ Seri Subahan Kamal.
Yusoff is the chairman for the Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee, as well as the Melaka United FC team manager, while Subahan is currently one of the vice president incumbents.
For the vice presidents’ role, there will be nine individuals competing for the four positions, including several familiar names. Dato’ Zainol Fadzil and Dato’ Hj Takiyudin Hj Hassan will compete once again, alongside names such as Dato’ Sivansundaram (Chairman for FAM’s status committee), Datuk Astaman Abdul Aziz (President of KLFA) and Datuk Rosmadi Ismail (vice president of KAFA).
The election will also see several familiar names that will not compete for their respective positions, such as the president, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, deputy president Dato’ Abdul Mokhtar Ahmad and vice president Dato’ Rozabil Abd Rahman.
Meanwhile in other news, FAM secretary Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin stated that the FAM is currently in discussions with Asian Football Confederation in regards to Harimau Malaysia 's Asian Cup qualification game against North Korea on March 28.
According to Hamidin, there is a possibility that the match will take place at a neutral ground in order to ensure the safety of the national team players and staff.
Following the murder of the brother in-law of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Nam at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport recently, security issues were raised regarding Malaysia players who will travel to North Korea for the match.
