Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) hereby states that the statement made by the owner of Kelantan FC, Norizam Tukiman or better known as Zamsaham is untrue.
This is because, based on the facts, his own party has already passed the set registration period, even FAM has tried its best to help, especially in the application and appeal process to the International Football Federation (FIFA).
Here is the chronology of this case by date:
July 4, 2023: FAM has withdrawn the ban on player transfers against Kelantan FC, but at the same time, the Malaysian Football League (MFL) is still imposing player transfer restrictions on Kelantan FC.
July 5, 2023: Player registration for the 2nd transfer window is open to all teams until 1 August 2023.
July 27, 2023: About 6 days before the registration period closed, the MFL has already withdrawn the player transfer ban order against Kelantan FC, further opening the space and opportunity for Kelantan FC to register their new players.
July 29, 2023: Kelantan FC Officials have contacted FAM TMS Officials to help them get the International Transfer Certificate (ITC) of the player, Allez Putra Azril who plays at Malaga FC Academy. For everyone’s information, every player’s ITC application is made through the TMS system which is regulated by FIFA. As Kelantan FC has still not appointed a new TMS officer, Kelantan FC has requested the help of former Kelantan FC officers who still hold their TMS accounts for this player’s ITC application. On that day, there was no problem logging in by Kelantan FC into the TMS system and there was no application by Kelantan FC in the TMS system to register other foreign players.
31 July 2023: TMS FAM officials have helped Kelantan FC resolve the player registration issue, Allez Putra Azril by contacting the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to obtain the player’s ITC release and finally the release was successfully obtained. Subsequently, Kelantan FC has started informing that the Kelantan FC TMS account held by their former official could not be accessed on that day due to login problems. TMS FAM officials have informed Kelantan FC to do ‘troubleshooting’ on the account and if it still fails, Kelantan FC needs to inform FIFA of this matter as soon as possible. For everyone’s information, each team has its own TMS account and is owned by an individual appointed by the Team. All problems regarding team accounts must be referred directly to FIFA who regulates the system.
August 1, 2023: That day was the last day of the transfer window for both players and FAM’s TMS Officer found that there were still no ITC applications found in the TMS system for Kelantan FC for ITC applications for new players. Until this date, Kelantan FC still informs that the Kelantan FC TMS account held by their former officials is still not accessible due to login problems. Kelantan FC only applied to FIFA via email for the conversion and appointment of a new TMS account at 11.15pm which is 45 minutes before the transfer window closed. On this date as well, there are several other teams that have applied for ITC and DTC (Domestic Transfer Certificate) players at the last minute and all of them were successfully completed by the FAM TMS Officer without any login problems or other technical problems.
August 2, 2023: FIFA informed that it had closed the TMS account owned by the former Kelantan FC official and further requested that the appointment of a new TMS account be made through FAM. Also on this date, Kelantan FC has applied through MFL for FAM to help them to extend the registration period of the two players.
August 3, 2023: FAM has received an application from Kelantan FC for the appointment of a new TMS account and has taken immediate action regarding the matter by sending the application to FIFA. FIFA then approved the application and Norizam Tukiman was appointed as the new TMS Kelantan FC account holder.
August 4, 2023: FAM sent an official application letter to FIFA to extend the registration period of the two players.
August 5, 2023: FIFA informed that the application was rejected because the period can only be changed before the player’s registration period begins.
August 7, 2023: FAM informed Kelantan FC of the answer (rejected) given by FIFA through a letter dated 7 August 2023. Subsequently, FAM sent an exemption appeal letter to FIFA regarding this matter by considering this application because Kelantan FC was subject to player transfer restrictions at the beginning transfer period and new TMS account appointment.
August 15, 2023: FAM has once again sent a second appeal letter to FIFA detailing the problems experienced by Kelantan FC to register players and this application for extension of player registration is specific to the Kelantan FC team only.
August 16, 2023: FAM received a reply from FIFA explaining that FIFA was aware of the problems faced by Kelantan FC to register players at the last minute. However, the appeal was rejected considering that the period can only be changed before the player’s registration period begins. This legal principle regarding the registration of players is uniform, universal and applies to the international transfer system in football. The reply letter has been sent by FAM to Kelantan FC for notification. The letter from FIFA has given a firm, clear and clear answer that Kelantan FC is no longer allowed to register foreign players in the 2023 season. This failure is due to Kelantan FC failing to complete the player registration documents before the second player transfer window which has already closed on 1 August 2023.
Noor Azman Hj Rahman
Secretary General of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM)
Credit Photo : FAM
