KUALA LUMPUR: Kuala Lumpur City (KL City) FC and Kedah Darul Aman FC have been given the deadline by First Instance Body (FIB) to submit their settlement documents pertaining to salary arrears before the end of next week.

Malaysian Football League (MFL) chief executive officer Datuk Stuart Ramalingam said that KL City had already submitted certain documents in terms of the pathway of settlements recently while FIB is still waiting for Kedah to do so.

“I hope these teams (KL City and Kedah) will comply with whatever is decided by FIB,” he said when met after the Back to School 2024 programme, organised by MFL and the official sponsor of the Malaysian League (M-League), AEON BIG, here, yesterday.

On Friday, Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA) president Khalid Abdul Samad said that KL City players and coaches are owed two months’ salary, namely for October and November last season.

Kedah, on the other hand, was reportedly owed its players four months’ salaries from last season.

MFL can take punitive action such as point deductions and reject national licences to compete in the Super League should the problem persist.

In the past, clubs such as Melaka United FC, Sarawak United FC and Perak FC were punished with point deductions before the start of the season.

Meanwhile, Stuart hoped that the National Football Awards (ABK) would be held before the new season of the Malaysian League (M-League) raises its curtain this May.

He admitted that they still cannot hold ABK 2023 due to several factors such as some players being tied with national duty for the 2023 Asian Cup in Doha last month while clubs are currently having a pre-season.

“It needs to follow the suitability and availability of the players involved...we will announce the appropriate date soon (before the new season starts),” he added. - Bernama