Hamidin Amin coy about FAM's top post as Congress accepts new statute

The FA of Malaysia (FAM) took a major step towards reform after its Congress accepted Asian Football Confederation (AFC)-proposed amendments to its statutes, as honarary president Tan Sri Hamidin Amin keeps his options open over a possible return as president.

PETALING JAYA: Tan Sri Hamidin Amin’s position in the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) appears secure after the national body’s Congress agreed to adopt 11 amendments to its statutes, while retaining the post of honorary president.

But the bigger question on everyone’s mind is whether Hamidin will return as FAM president.

When the question was put to him, Hamidin, who stepped down as president in February 2025 before being named honorary president, said: “There are two options. One is to see if any other candidates are willing to put their names forward.

“The second is to wait and see.”

FAM will hold elections for a new executive council, including the president’s post, in September.

Earlier, FAM’s Congress voted to accept 11 amendments to the national body’s statutes. These include giving clubs a bigger say in its administration, allocating one of the three vice-presidents’ posts to the president of the Malaysia Football League, reducing the executive council from 17 to 11 members, and returning responsibility for managing the national team to FAM.

Currently, a separate entity manages Harimau Malaya.

Other changes include granting Super League clubs, and groups representing coaches, referees and players, voting rights, while the minimum number of nominations required for the presidency has been reduced from six to four.

The other changes to FAM’s statutes are:

AFC general secretary Datuk Seri Windsor Paul John said he and his deputy, Vahid Kardany, had been working closely with FAM since Feb 1, four days after the previous executive council resigned en masse following the doctored documents scandal involving seven players.

It was Kardany who was tasked with making the recommendations to amend FAM’s statutes.

Although the doctored documents scandal has yet to be resolved, Windsor said everyone was looking forward, not backwards.

“Now that the Congress has accepted our recommendations, FAM must get down to work to implement the new statutes,” said Windsor.

“We (AFC) will still be monitoring FAM for the next two years, and the officials will be sending us reports every three months for our assessment.

“The media must give the new exco space to carry out the changes. I’m confident everyone wants what is best for Malaysian football.”

He added that FAM would be more transparent from now on, as one of the recommended changes was to make its decisions and staff salaries public.

Hamidin added that FAM would not make any more statements on the status of the seven heritage players until the new management was in place.

Asked about the new statutes and AFC’s audit, Hamidin said: “We followed the statutes for many years but, in hindsight, they had become outdated.

“The Congress today made the right choice by adopting AFC’s recommendations, and we can move forward.”