THE Football Association of Malaysia’s (FAM) latest attempt to justify why its suspended secretary-general, Datuk Noor Azman Rahman, was seen alongside FIFA president Gianni Infantino is nothing short of baffling.
If the goal was to reassure the public, it failed spectacularly. If anything, the explanation has only made things worse.
When an official is suspended over a scandal that has already dragged Malaysian football through international embarrassment, the last image anyone expects is one of him smiling next to the sport’s most powerful figure.
Suspension should mean precisely that — stepping away, completely. Not “off-duty.” Not “in a personal capacity.” And certainly not showing up at a high-profile event attended by the very organisation that’s investigating your association.
FAM’s tone-deaf statement insisting that Noor Azman was there “personally” rather than “officially” reeks of arrogance and poor judgment. It treats public perception as an inconvenience instead of a responsibility.
This isn’t a matter of protocol or paperwork. It’s about credibility, leadership, and the message being sent to every player, fan, and official who still cares about Malaysian football’s integrity.
For an association still reeling from the fiasco involving seven naturalised “heritage” players, a saga that cost RM1.9 million in fines and left our football reputation in shreds — this lack of self-awareness is staggering.
Did no one in Wisma FAM stop to ask how this would look? Did no one consider that, in the current climate, even a photograph can undermine months of damage control?
Optics matter. They always have.
And this one looks terrible.
The photograph, which also featured FAM honorary president Tan Sri Hamidin Mohd Amin, sends the worst possible signal. To the public, it looks less like a suspension and more like business as usual.
To players and fans, it suggests that rules in Malaysian football are flexible, depending on who you are and who you know.
This isn’t just bad timing — it’s bad judgment, plain and simple.
FAM could have used this moment to show it takes integrity seriously, to demonstrate that transparency isn’t just a slogan rolled out when convenient.
Instead, it reached for bureaucracy, hiding behind the flimsiest of excuses – “personal capacity” – as if that somehow erases the obvious conflict of perception.
It doesn’t.
In football, as in leadership, image is everything. And once again, FAM has proven it still doesn’t grasp that fact. When credibility is already hanging by a thread, even a photograph can speak louder than a thousand official statements.
This one says it all, and none of it is good. — October 30, 2025
Sandru Narayanan is a sports journalist at Scoop