The sudden announcement by Perak FC to cease operations at the end of May 2025 not only shocked the Malaysian football community but also exposed a series of painful problems regarding financial management, unsustainable operating models and overspending at many professional football teams in this country.
Since the middle of last year, Perak FC has shown signs of instability when players had their salaries cut by 50%. Former Malaysia U23 midfielder Shivan Pillay shared that he and his teammates had to tighten their belts, cook for themselves and struggle to pay rent and car installments.
In March 2025, the situation became more serious when the club stopped paying salaries completely. The climax was when goalkeeper Haziq Nadzli publicly announced on social media that the board of directors only offered to pay 20% of the 6.5 months of unpaid wages. On May 25, Perak FC officially announced its dissolution due to "running out of money".
They said they had spent more than RM40 million in the past three years, including RM8 million to pay off old debts and RM10 million a year to run the team. The remaining money was only enough to repatriate foreign players and pay off part of the staff debt.
Not only Perak, Kedah Darul Aman FC was also not granted a license to play in the new season due to failing to meet financial requirements. Three other teams, Kuala Lumpur FC, Kelantan Darul Naim FC and PDRM FC, were only granted conditional licenses and had to provide additional financial documents. The MFL (Malaysia Premier League) warned that if they failed to meet the requirements in time, their licenses would be revoked. The situation of delayed salaries has become a common phenomenon.
KL City FC, who won the 2021 Malaysia Cup, have been owed wages for the past year. In Sri Pahang, players were only paid just before the National Cup final. Some semi-professional teams like Perlis United even let players do outside work like rubber tapping because they have no income from the club.
Many observers believe that the root of the problem lies in clubs spending beyond their means, not controlling cash flow and lacking a stable revenue model. Mr. Ng Wei Xian, former goalkeeper coach of Perak FC, said that the club initially promised to build a sustainable youth model, but then rushed to recruit foreign players with the expectation that short-term results would bring in revenue.
When expectations are not met, the consequences are unpaid wages and dissolution. Mr. Shahril Mokhtar, Technical Director of Selangor FC affirmed: "Spending must be based on a realistic budget. Many clubs today just spend money without knowing whether they have enough to pay or not." Even if the MFL increases the foreign player quota to 15 players, he also warned that only clubs with a solid financial foundation should pursue that goal.
Faced with this situation, Malaysian Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has called for clubs to be run by people with real management and financial capacity. “If you cannot manage effectively, let someone else do it. Don’t hold on to your seat and let football go down,” she said.
It can be seen that Malaysian football needs to comprehensively restructure the club operating model, from tightening licensing, financial transparency to encouraging the development of domestic players instead of being too dependent on foreign players.
Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/the-thao/no-luong-va-giai-the-clb-149063.html
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