Malaysia faces 'boycott' wave from sponsors - Photo: FAM
"FAM's main sponsor has fled?" - Malaysian newspaper Stadium Astro headlined in an article published late on November 24.
Malaysian media reported that Bank Islam, a major sponsor of FAM, is considering "withdrawing" from its cooperation with the Malaysian football governing body.
Malaysian press discovered that the logo of this banking institution had "disappeared" from the electronic advertising board during the Asian Cup qualifying match between Malaysia and Nepal last week.
Not only that, the bank's logo no longer appears on FAM's official website. And when contacted by the media, Bank Islam representatives refused to respond.
Although not yet official, Malaysian media has concluded that FAM has just lost one of its biggest sponsors because of the player naturalization scandal.
This is what experts in the fields of science and sports finance in Malaysia have predicted, after FAM seriously tarnished the image of the country's football.
University of Malaya professor Sayf Ismail described the move as an initial attempt to protect the image and reputation of the sponsors.
"Bank Islam is a public listed company (PLC), listed on Bursa Malaysia. They are committed to society, they must act for good.
The company's code of ethics must reject all forms of fraud, especially fraud involving FAM. FAM has been convicted by FIFA, and the scandal has become too obvious.
As a PLC, of course they think their brand is at risk of being tarnished. Based on my experience, there is a clause that allows sponsors to withdraw in serious cases, basically when one of the parties is at fault,” Stadium Astro quoted Professor Ismail as saying.
Islam Bank has a long-standing partnership with FAM, and the two parties recently renewed their contract in the middle of this year, in a two-year sponsorship deal.
FAM’s finances have become seriously shaky. A few days ago, Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said that the funding boosts to FAM would be temporarily frozen following the naturalization scandal.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bong-da-malaysia-nhan-don-trung-phat-thu-2-20251124214145475.htm
Comment (0)