KUALA LUMPUR: The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has reaffirmed that all FIFA-sanctioned eFootball tournaments fall strictly under its jurisdiction.
This comes after the Malaysia Esports Federation (MESF) declared the selection tournament for FAM’s eRimau squad at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) on Sept 8-9 as unsanctioned.
FAM secretary-general Datuk Noor Azman Rahman said FIFA deals directly with FAM, not MESF, despite the latter being the governing body for esports in Malaysia.
Konami, the developer of eFootball, entered into a partnership with FIFA in October last year, giving the world governing body the right to organise tournaments globally through its affiliates.
“Esports is indeed under MESF, but when it involves a FIFA tournament, it comes under FAM,” said Noor Azman when contacted today.
“FIFA handed the responsibility of organising eFootball tournaments to us. If FIFA were to deal with them directly, that would be fine, but in this case, they deal directly with us.”
MESF has expressed frustration that FAM rejected its bid to organise eFootball tournaments in favour of Gamesbond.
Noor Azman explained that MESF, as an association, was not eligible to enter bids directly.
Instead, it must work through a company if it intends to participate.
“When we conducted the selection process, two parties submitted bids – MESF and Gamesbond. From our evaluation, Gamesbond looked capable and did not burden us. But the rules are clear: an association cannot enter the process on its own,” he said.
He added that FAM’s decisions are based on authority and practicality, particularly in ensuring that event organisers make competitive offers.
“When FIFA offers us the right to organise the tournament, we have the discretion to choose who we feel is suitable and who can provide an offer that does not burden us,” he said.
The dispute has escalated, with MESF declaring that any player competing in FAM tournaments will be regarded as a professional and barred from MESF-sanctioned competitions.
MESF also claimed backing from the local eFootball community.
Maqna Esports Club, for instance, withdrew six players who had been selected for the FAM tournament at UKM.
Last year, Ahmad Muhaimin Razak, better known as Minbappe, made history by winning the inaugural FIFAe World Cup in the mobile category, taking home the trophy and US$20,000 (RM84,400) in prize money.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
