JOHOR BARU: There will be fewer breaks in the local league competition beginning next year, said FAM president Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.
Tunku Ismail said at the moment, there are too many breaks during the league, which affected the momentum of the competition, which in turn have affected the players' performances.
"Now, we even had a break for a junior international competition. We should carry on with the league because it is important to keep the momentum of the competition and maintain the morale of the players," he said.
He said the decision to have fewer breaks was reached at the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership's (FMLLP) board of directors meeting yesterday.
"We have also proposed that the league should continue even during the fasting month. We should follow the Arab countries where they carry on with the league competition even during the fasting month," he said.
Tunku Ismail said the issue will be discussed at the next FAM exco meeting in Kedah.
"The exco meeting will also discuss the proposal to increase the number of foreign players, specifically for Asean players, for each team.
"Based on the recommendation of the league's new sponsor, if we have a quota for an Asean player for each team, there should be players who have more than 30 caps for their countries. This would indirectly attract more viewers to our league, which in turn would improve the value of the league.
"This would mean that each team would receive more money from TV rights. My ambition is to see each team in the league receiving RM6 million or RM7 million from TV rights annually, which in turn would lessen the teams' dependence on allocation from the state governments," said Tunku Ismail.
However, he said the ability for each team to sign the maximum number of foreign players would depend on whether they could afford them.
He was speaking to the media after witnessing the unveiling of the new Super League Trophy by FAM deputy president Datuk Yusof Mahadi. Also present were FAM secretary-general Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin and FMLLP chief executive officer Kevin Ramalingam.
The new trophy, which is made of brass, silver and 24-carat gold by the Johor Royal jewellers, will replace the existing trophy which has been in use since 2004.
Kevin said FMLLP have been planning to replace the Super League trophy since 2015.
"The new trophy marks a new era for football in Malaysia," said Kevin, adding that it took about eight months to bring the trophy from the design concept to the finished article.
Tunku Ismail said the new, high quality trophy would raise the value of the league competition.
"If possible, I would also like to upgrade the FA Cup. This is not because I am looking down at tradition but because the existing trophy does not reflect the prestige of the football in the country where we want everything to be of high quality," said Tunku Ismail.