Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has an official statement to explain the Referee to officiate in the Piala Malaysia 2023 Final between Johor Darul Ta’Zim and Terengganu FC on 8 December after this match.
FAM explained the reason was unable to appoint a referee among the six International Football Federation (FIFA) referees to officiate due to several factors and constraints.
“Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) was unable to appoint a referee among the six International Football Federation (FIFA) referees to officiate the 2023 Malaysia Cup Final, Johor Darul Ta’zim vs Terengganu FC at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil on Friday, 8 December last due to several factors and constraints.” Datuk Noor Azman Hj Rahman, General Secretary FAM said in official statement.
“Razlan Joffri Ali and Kamil Zakaria are referees born in Terengganu, Tuan Yaasin Tuan Hanafiah is a registered referee in Johor while Usaid Jamal, who is new to work in Melaka, has been registered as a referee in Johor, thus they cannot be appointed due to the referee’s neutral status.”
“The remaining two FIFA Referees, Suhaizi Shukri from Kedah is involved with the AFC Cup assignment while Nazmi Nasaruddin from Penang is in Saudi Arabia for referee assignment.”
“Based on the situation, the selection of S. Logeswaran from Selangor was done carefully and got the approval of the FAM Referee Committee after taking into account the fact that he has performed very well throughout the Malaysia League 2023 according to the report of the referee assessor, besides that he is a neutral referee.”
“Logeswaran is also one of the senior referees in the Malaysian League where he is the Category A National Referee.”
“Meanwhile, in relation to some of the disputed decisions in the final action, the decisions made were accurate after a review of the video recording was done.”
“As for the incident of the penalty kick given for Johor Darul Ta’zim’s first goal in the sixth minute, the referee was in the right position to make a decision and indeed there was a kick made by a Terengganu FC player on a Johor Darul Ta’zim player and it also happened in the area penalty.”
“As for the penalty kick incident for Terengganu FC’s equalizing goal in the 21st minute, the Johor Darul Ta’zim player’s foul against the Terengganu FC player was clearly seen and assisted by the Additional Assistant Referee 1, thus the referee’s decision was made based on the assistance of the Additional Assistant Referee 1 and not at the insistence and request of Terengganu FC players.”
“In another related issue, FAM did not receive any information related to the reprimand given by the Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina on the quality of refereeing in the final action and what went viral on social media was false news or statements.”
Credit Photo : Jayden Seah/SNE-Photo
