KUALA LUMPUR – There appears to be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for Malaysian football as the Malaysian Football League (MFL) is currently in talks with potential sponsors for next season.
Besides Bank Rakyat, a source in the football fraternity revealed to The Vibes that Farm Fresh Malaysia could become a potential sponsor for next year’s M-League.
“It is believed that discussions with Farm Fresh are still in the early stages. If this is true, then it is great news for Malaysian football. Malaysian sports need more involvement from corporate organisations, especially the football league, which does not get any allocations from the Government,” said the source.
It is understood that if the Bank Rakyat deal is sealed, it will only cover the National team.
Earlier, MFL suffered a setback after its second biggest sponsor, CIMB Bank — with a budget of RM2 million — and Air Asia — with a sponsorship of around RM1 million — pulled out from the upcoming season of M-League, citing cash-flow issues following the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, last week, Telekom Malaysia (TM) decided to maintain its M-League sponsorship despite speculations that the communication service provider is discontented with MFL for not meeting certain promised requirements and is looking to slash its RM30 million allocation by half.
Meanwhile, another source told The Vibes that it would be better if MFL’s commercial department scouted out smaller-sized organisations as potential sponsors instead of depending on one big corporation.
“MFL should not put all their eggs in one basket. Imagine if they could work out a plan where they approach 10 SMEs for a sponsorship amount of maybe RM1 million each, which is already RM 10 million in hand, as opposed to TM or some other similar-sized corporation sponsoring RM30 million or RM40 million.”
“To execute this plan, it’s easier said and done but that is why MFL has a commercial department to come up with different ways to secure sponsorships for the sport,” the source said.
With this approach, MFL can sustainably run the M-League; in the event any sponsor plans to withdraw their sponsorship, it would not adversely affect the M-League the way it has of late.
The exit of certain sponsors due to the rise of Covid-19 contributed significantly to MFL’s decision to cancel the TM 2020 Malaysia Cup after the Government decided to postpone the tournament.
The sponsors were concerned with the uncertainty of the M-League next season but with negotiations underway between MFL and Shopee, Bank Rakyat and now Farm Fresh, there is renewed hope for Malaysian football and its loyal supporters.
“Things will improve for football next season and, I hope, for other sports as well. The sports associations need to step up and not depend on the current Government, which have had six former Sports Ministers, who have yet to offer any help,” the source added. – The Vibes, December 1, 2020.
