KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — The Premier League competition which should have taken place on July 3 will resume on July 24.
The Malaysian Football League (MFL) also announced changes to the Malaysian League schedule (M-League) involving the postponed matches between Perak FC II and Kelantan FC at the Perak Stadium, Ipoh and Selangor FC 2 with Sarawak United FC, at a venue to be decided later, on July 17. The matches were earlier scheduled for June 29 and 30.
MFL chief executive officer, Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan said the changes to the M-League schedule also involved the 14th to the 22nd matches of the Super League and the 13th to the 22nd matches of the Premier League to ensure the time gap between every match was not too tight.
“Although movement control is still being implemented, MFL received good consideration from the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS), National Security Council (NSC) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) to continue the remaining of the 2021 M-League competition with tight standard operating procedures (SOP).
“However, the amendment to the schedule cannot be avoided to minimise the use of the same venues and to avoid teams wading through a rather tight schedule,” he said in a statement today.
Ab Ghani said if there were any further changes to the M-League schedule, it would be subject to the decision of the MFL board of directors and directives from the government and movement control enforcement.
Prior to this, MFL, on June 24, informed that the Premier League which was supposed to have taken place last July 3 was postponed following the recommendation of KBS due to the current Covid-19 situation which is still at a worrying level while the Super League will continue on July 24.
Meanwhile, Ab Ghani also informed that teams that were in states under the enhanced movement controlled order (EMCO) must look for new match venues for the Super League and Premier League competitions.
He said this is because the M-League matches, including training matches, are not allowed in EMCO areas.
Currently, the M-League teams which were involved in EMCO were Kuala Lumpur City FC and PDRM FC which should be playing at the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium, Cheras, Selangor FC 2 (Selayang Municipal Council Stadium), Selangor FC and PJ City FC (Petaling Jaya City Stadium), UiTM FC and FAM-MSN Project Squad (UiTM Stadium, Shah Alam) and Negeri Sembilan FC (Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium, Paroi).
“The MFL has asked the teams concerned to be ready with early plans to look for a new stadium not under the EMCO areas where they can apply to use stadiums which are not used by other teams such as the Manjung Stadium and Batu Kawan Stadium,” he said.
He said all the eight teams could apply to use stadiums that were only used by one team and MFL would identify the stadiums to help the teams secure a new avenue.
He also hoped that all the teams continue to be united and co-operate with one another in ensuring the smooth running of the 2021 Malaysian League.
— Bernama
