KUALA LUMPUR — The honeymoon period for the Football Association of Malaysia’s (FAM) new executive committee is set to be brief, with the Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan-led administration facing an immediate test over a string of governance weaknesses flagged in an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) audit.
However, AFC secretary-general Datuk Seri Windsor Paul John has urged stakeholders to give the new leadership time to understand the findings and implement the reforms needed to restore confidence in FAM.
Windsor said the AFC would not rush to assess the performance of an executive committee that had only just been formed, with the full audit report to be handed over to the new leadership for detailed consideration and follow-up action.
“We need to give the FAM executive committee time and give them the opportunity to start work. As mentioned by FAM president Ab Ghani after his election, he wants to restore the confidence of supporters and football stakeholders,” he told Scoop when contacted.
Windsor said the AFC would also arrange a meeting with the new FAM leadership to formally hand over the full audit findings and discuss the steps required to address the weaknesses identified.
“They have not received it yet, so we will give them time and arrange a meeting to hand over the full report for the new executive committee to take further action,” he said.
The audit findings, presented on June 4, were compiled by an AFC special task force previously led by AFC deputy secretary-general Vahid Kardany, which identified several areas of FAM’s administration requiring urgent improvement.
One of the most critical areas was financial management, approvals and risk management, which received the lowest score of 1.2 out of five.
The audit highlighted, among other issues, the absence of clear approval limits for high-value expenditure and the failure to table the annual budget for Congress approval since 2016.
FAM’s organisational structure and human capital management also came under scrutiny, receiving a score of 1.4, with the audit pointing to an over-reliance on certain individuals in key functions and weaknesses in empowering professional staff.
It also identified the absence of an annual business plan, a comprehensive activity calendar and regular performance reporting as areas requiring attention.
Financial pressures were another concern, with almost 70 per cent of FAM’s expenditure reportedly channelled towards staff salaries and national team operations, limiting the resources available for football development.
The audit also identified shortcomings in infrastructure and facilities management, while governance, legal and operational processes were affected by excessive reliance on committees for operational decisions.
It further noted an organisational culture that did not sufficiently encourage lower-level staff to raise concerns or provide critical feedback.
The communications and media unit was among the better-performing areas, recording a score of 2.0 out of five, although the overall assessment showed several departments operating at critical levels.
As part of a proposed two-year recovery plan, the AFC recommended reducing the size of FAM’s executive committee from 17 to 11 members while creating greater opportunities for professional experts, club representatives and women to play a role in the association’s administration.
On financial governance, FAM was advised to ensure its annual budget is formally presented to and approved by Congress, while restructuring the allocation of funds to channel more resources towards grassroots development and domestic leagues.
The AFC also recommended modernising FAM’s administrative systems through automation and digitalisation, with each department required to establish an annual business plan, activity calendar and key performance indicators (KPIs).
During the two-year recovery period, FAM would also be required to submit progress reports to the AFC every three months, with interim support from AFC technical teams and consultants to monitor the implementation of the reforms.
Ab Ghani, after being elected FAM president at the association’s second extraordinary congress on Thursday, said the new administration would first have to address the issues raised by the AFC before moving on to its wider reform agenda. – September 19, 2026