The Malaysian Football League (MFL) will stick with the February 26 Malaysian league kickoff date for the 2021 season, despite developments in the country this week.
In a media release it published on Wednesday, its CEO Dato’ Ab Ghani Hassan expressed his belief that the earlier-planned kickoff date will not need to be pushed back.
Malaysian Football League
Ab Ghani Hassan. Photo from MFL
Earlier this week, the Malaysian government announced that six Malaysian states; Selangor, Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Labuan), Melaka, Johor and Sabah have been put under the strict Movement Control Order (MCO) again in order to combat the rising Covid-19 cases, from January 13 to January 26.
The remaining states of Pahang, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, Perlis and Sarawak meanwhile have been placed under different, less-strict MCO modes.
Under these MCO modes, sporting activities held in groups such as football matches and training have been prohibited once again, and Malaysian league clubs have had to put a halt to their 2021 pre-season preparations following the government's recent directive, with players now training individually at home.
"MFL accepts the government's MCO decision due to the worrying increase in Covid-19 cases. Of course we hope that the MCO will not be in effect for long as we have already issued the season's calendar.
"We do have plans in case the lockdown is extended like what happened in 2020, but we are still sticking with our original plans because it is still January now. If the current MCO ends on January 26, clubs will have ample time to prepare for the February 26 kickoff date," Ghani was quoted as saying.
