Football Association of Selangor (FAS) deputy president and FAS technical committee chairman Shahril Mokhtar said the appeal to postpone the match was based on safety reasons.

“I can confirm that Selangor FC has officially appealed to MFL and JDT about the possibility of rescheduling, not cancelling, the Charity Shield match on Friday, for safety reasons.

“I cannot reveal or elaborate further but we have officially informed the MFL, so they will decide,” he said after visiting Selangor FC winger Faisal Halim who is receiving treatment at a private hospital here.

The Charity Shield match between Selangor FC and JDT has been scheduled to be held at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, on Friday.

Earlier, MFL chief executive officer Stuart Ramalingam had reportedly said that so far the match would proceed as scheduled since neither Selangor FC or JDT had requested a postponement, although there were rumours that the match would be pushed back after the acid attack on Faisal, on Sunday.

Faisal, 26, is a winger for Selangor and the national team. He was splashed with acid by two unknown assailants at a shopping mall in Kota Damansara and suffered fourth-degree burns.

This was the second attack on a footballer last week. Terengganu FC winger Akhyar Rashid was attacked by two robbers after returning from training on Thursday night.