Male' Maldives: Ahmed Zuhoor, Chairperson of the Normalization Committee of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM), has stated that there is no issue between FAM and the Gold Cup. instead, they are unable to participate in the tournament because the Gold Cup is not conducted in accordance with the regulations that FAM needs to follow.
Speculation about FAM's Normalizing Committee being against the Gold Cup began going around on social media following the leak of an internal FAM memo. The memo instructed FAM staff and those associated with FAM not to participate in tournaments that do not have FAM's involvement. However, later, through discussions, a resolution has been reached on these matters.
In an interview given to 'Adhadhu Sports' yesterday while on an FAM trip to Nepal, Zuhoor stated that there is no issue between the Gold Cup and FAM. However, he said that FAM cannot officially participate in this matter as the Gold Cup does not operate within the international standards that FAM needs to follow.
Zuhoor repeatedly emphasized that this is not a 'clash' between him or FAM and 90 Plus - the organizers of Gold Cup.
"The Football Association of Maldives (FAM) has international affiliations. An internationally affiliated organization has its rules and regulations within that international affiliation, and FIFA statutes are written in accordance with their regulations. Therefore, any event that FAM participates in or affiliates with must operate within certain guidelines. If it does not fit within these guidelines, FAM cannot affiliate or participate. It is not set up in a way that allows official support at any level. This isn't a clash; it's that those who organize and run it either know this or have chosen to ignore it and proceed anyway," Zuhoor said.
Zuhoor, who has previously served as Sports Minister, said the reality is that FAM cannot provide support to the Gold Cup because it does not align with FAM's regulations. He also believes that if a tournament is to be held, participating teams should be registered with the Sports Commission, and from his inquiries, he has learned that such matters are not verified for teams participating in the Gold Cup.
Zuhoor said that unlike the Gold Cup, the Youth League is a tournament that FAM is affiliated with, and Maldives Soccer Mates conducts it in accordance with FAM's regulations with the help of FAM technical department.
"It does not fit into any procedure. It does not fit into FAM's regulations. If such an event is to be held in the Maldives, there are procedures that need to be followed. There should be registration with the Sports Commissioner, and when we inquired, they also said that the participating teams are not teams that have completed such registration processes. If they are not registered, we certainly cannot enter into it," Zuhoor said.
"Without fitting into FIFA/AFC regulations and FAM statutes, we cannot provide any official support," he added.
Teams playing in tournaments that proceed within FIFA and AFC standards must be teams that have completed part of club licensing, fulfilled all such official requirements, and operate within a system that FAM is familiar with.
However, FAM has learned from the information they gathered that all these aspects are not verified for the Gold Cup.
The Gold Cup, featuring teams from seventeen islands or cities of the Maldives, will continue until the 25th of next month.
Zuhoor said that initially, when there was talk of differences between the Gold Cup and FAM, FAM discussed with 90 Plus to decide on the Gold Cup. He also said that they provided guidance to proceed with the tournament within FAM's statutes.
"We told 90 Plus that if they could sit with us and work to enter our existing system, let us try to do that. Then there would not be any problems with this. We gave them that opportunity, even very recently we gave them that opportunity. However, since they could not find a way to follow those regulations, they decided to proceed without connecting with us. This is not a clash," Zuhoor said.
Zuhoor said that FAM has many tournaments in zones as well. Therefore, he said they offered the opportunity to 90 Plus to hold zone tournaments.
"We told them that clubs from many islands in the Maldives are coming, so we said we have zone events too. So, if they had planned to fit it into a zone event format, it could have been arranged to proceed as a zone event fitting into FAM's statutes. But if the tournament organizer does not want it that way, there is nothing that can be done," Zuhoor said.
Zuhoor stated that the Dhivehi Youth League, jointly conducted by Maldives Soccer Mates (MSM) and FAM, is included in FAM's statutes (constitution). As such, he said that FAM's statutes provide for leagues for under 12, 14, and 16 years, and therefore, they signed an agreement for FAM's involvement in this tournament after clarifying all aspects of the tournament.
