MFL working hard to settle remaining half of annual grants to teams

SHAH ALAM, Sept 24 -- The Malaysian Football League (MFL) will settle the remaining half of the annual grants owed to Super League and Premier League teams, by November this year.

MFL board member Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi said the MFL would honour its promise of paying the full annual grant of RM3 million to each Super League team and RM1 million for a Premier League side, and that its commitment in the matter should not be questioned.

He said the MFL had been working hard to settle the remaining 50 per cent, despite the financial constraints faced due to the sponsorship issue with Telekom Malaysia earlier this season.

"The commitment to pay is still there...so the total of RM3 million and RM1 million will be settled, only now, we need some time as we are facing some constraints over the fact that everyone is aware of, which is we didn’t have any sponsor this year.

"But MFL is working hard to make it possible for us to pay off the remaining 50 per cent by November. So we have to wait a little longer as we try to make sure what we promised last year, can be fulfilled," he said during a press conference here today.

In mid-July this year, the MFL finally ended the teams’ wait for annual grants by paying 50 per cent of the total amount, while announcing that the balance would be paid by the middle of August.

However, MFL failed to make the remainder of the payment, prompting some teams to question the delay, which had impacted their financial management and planning.

"Initial expectations were to settle the payments on July 15 and Aug 15. But due to the constraints faced, we could not make it happen as planned and we require a little more time to settle the balance," he said.

-- BERNAMA