Hannah Confident FAM Capable Of Handling Current Leadership Issue

PETALING JAYA, Aug 30 (Bernama) -- Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh expressed confidence that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) would be able to overcome the current leadership issue without affecting the continuity of the national football development programme.

Hannah said that a change in leadership in a sports association is not unusual, and she believes that FAM has a mechanism to find a solution.

She believed that FAM would be able to overcome the current issues well because the governing body itself had faced bigger challenges before.

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"I don't consider it a crisis because they already have an acting president and all the programmes are still ongoing but a change in the leadership of a sports association is not strange, it is common and I am confident that FAM can resolve this internally.

"They (FAM) just need to choose a new president and I hope they will choose someone who can last longer," she told Bernama when met at the 2025 World Youth Scrabble Championship at the Sri KL International School here, today.

At the same time, she said the leadership issue in the association cannot be allowed to protract.

According to her, she has contacted FAM honorary president Tan Sri Hamidin Mohd Amin regarding the issue given that there are several national projects underway between the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) and FAM.

"We have the National Football Development Project (NFDP) which is currently going through a transition phase from the National Sports Council (MSN) to FAM, in addition to the National Training Centre project in Putrajaya. I don't want any disruption to such national projects," added Hannah.

Meanwhile, Hannah said football is fortunate because the Regent of Johor, Tunku Mahkota Ismail, has contributed a lot to the development of the sport.

Last Wednesday, FAM confirmed that Datuk Mohd Joehari Mohd Ayub had resigned after taking office as president for only about six months in a letter sent recently.

In a similar development, FAM also announced that deputy president Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi has been appointed as acting president with immediate effect.

Yesterday, Mohd Yusoff, in a press conference at Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya here, came out to explain that Mohd Joehari's resignation was his own personal decision, besides also denying that there was any 'unseen hand' behind the surprise decision.

In a separate development, Hannah allocated a special grant worth RM20,000 to the Malaysian Scrabble Association (MSA) to support efforts to introduce scrabble more widely to all levels of society regardless of age.

“Scrabble is not an expensive game, it only needs a hall and I will ask the MSN and the National Youth and Sports Department to see how we can continue to promote it for the Masters Games...I think scrabble is also suitable for competition,” she said.

A total of 225 athletes from various countries including 40 from Malaysia are participating in the 2025 World Youth Scrabble Championship which starts today until Monday (Sept 1).

-- BERNAMA