Malaysian Football Association Did Not File Official Protest Against Myanmar

PETALING JAYA (Selangor,Malaysia), July 6 (Bernama) - The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) did not file an official protest to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) regarding overaged Myanmar players at AFC Cup U-22 qualifiers recently. FAM general secretary Azzuddin Ahmad said it did not send an official protest to the AFC before expiry of the 48 hours protest period at 7pm on Thursday. He said one of the reasons why FAM did not do so was because it did not have incriminating evidence to back claims that Myanmar had fielded overaged players against Malaysia. "Basic and official information used by the AFC is based on official data from passports and personal documents registered for the AFC tournament. The AFC has its own database system called AFCAS (AFC Administration System). "The organisation of football tournaments in SEA Games, Asian Games and AFF Suzuki Cup are not within the jurisdiction of the AFC. So data used during registration is not taken into account by the AFC. He told a press conference at Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya, near here on Friday, FAM had to be careful so that the protest would not affect its image and credibility. "FAM has to explain this issue to end speculation. We must not be ruled by emotions but must be ruled by rules and regulations. "Our team while in Yangon (Myanmar) on July 3 had complained to the match commisioner that Myanmar had fielded overaged players for the tournament." Azzuddin said the AFC sent a letter on Thursday replying to the Malaysian team's protest and provided guidelines for the FAM. "The FAM had conducted an investigation based on data and sources including those available at the AFC." He added the FAM could not merely lodge protest based on articles published by the media. "Having checked Myanmar citizenship documents, we found that two players having the same name are different individuals," he added. Among the players said to be overaged are skipper Kyaw Zayar Win, Kaung Si Thu (jersey 9) and Kyi Lin (jersey 8). Local press reports claimed that Kaung Si Thu is 25 years-old as stated in the official website of his club, Yangon United while Kyaw Zayar Win is 24 years-old as appeared on the official website of the International Football Federation (FIFA). -- BERNAMA