In a Facebook post on the Johor Southern Tigers page last night, Tunku Ismail announced his resignation, saying he was “leaving football”. He suggested this was due to the “very big failure” of the national team which dropped a further three spots in the FIFA ranking released yesterday.
However, Umno information chief Annuar Musa called for Tunku Ismail, better known as TMJ, to reconsider his decision because “an organisation as big as FAM needs a strong leader”.
The former Kelantan FA president also dismissed any possibility that he could be back in line to take the role of FAM president.
“The question of who should be the next president doesn’t arise because FAM’s rules stipulate that if a president resigns, his deputy will take over. Fresh elections will only happen if the entire FAM management resigns.”
There are two FAM deputy presidents, Subahan Kamal and Mohd Yusoff Mahadi. Subahan is currently the Malaysian Hockey Confederation president as well as Selangor FA president. Based on the FAM elections last year, when Subahan obtained the highest number of votes among candidates for the two deputy president posts, he should be next in line for the presidency.
Annuar, who is also Ketereh MP, said although Tunku Ismail’s supposed reason for resigning was honourable, he shouldn’t judge his performance based on the drop in rankings in such a short period.
The latest FIFA ranking showed Malaysia was now ranked 178th in the 211-nation organisation.
“Football rankings take time to change. We can’t expect overnight results. TMJ has done much in just under one year, and more time is needed,” Annuar said, adding that he hoped Tunku Ismail would stay on to complete his term of office in 2021.
Tunku Ismail was made FAM president at the FAM Congress on March 25 last year, after Annuar dropped out of the race just days before elections.
The Johor royal took over from Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, who himself did not complete his full term of office after taking over from his father, the Pahang state ruler, in 2014.
Meanwhile, former national striker Matlan Marjan said Tunku Ismail’s resignation would be a big loss to Malaysian football.
Matlan said Tunku Ismail had brought a lot of change to the local football scene despite only leading FAM for just under a year.
“He has managed to strengthen the footballing structure at the grassroots level and he is also very hands-on.
“I can’t remember a FAM president who goes down to the ground as much as he does, disregards protocol in meeting and engages with fans although he is a member of the royalty,” he said, adding that Tunku Ismail also dealt with matters “head-on”.
In 1995, Matlan and five other Sabah FA players were arrested over alleged match-fixing. While the charges against the “Sabah Six” were dropped, they were punished with a lifetime ban from state and national level football activities until Tunku Ismail lifted the ban last April.
Matlan said he had waited for years for the ban to be lifted while any hope of continuing his footballing career drifted away. When Tunku Ismail became president, he added, the matter was resolved with ease.
“I don’t agree with his decision to resign because now I don’t see anyone else who is as qualified to lead FAM.”
Since taking charge of FAM on March 25 last year, Tunku Ismail has restructured local football, lured sponsors to help contribute to football in the country, and prepared a long-term plan for local football with the cooperation of the Spanish LaLiga.
He has also fought for broadcasting rights for all competing teams in Liga Malaysia to help them manage and strengthen their financial stability, effectively seeing all teams receiving between RM1 million and RM3 million.
On the pitch, the U23, U19 and U16 teams also made history when they represented the country at the highest level in Asia.