PETALING JAYA, June 4 — Malaysia has the potential to become a leading football nation in Asia if the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) successfully implements its proposed governance reforms, according to Asian Football Confederation (AFC) secretary-general Datuk Seri Windsor Paul John.

He said Malaysia enjoys advantages that many countries across Asia do not have, including strong government backing, passionate fan support, sponsorship opportunities and extensive media coverage of football.

“In many countries, football is not the number one sport. In many countries, there is no government support, and fan support is very low.

“Malaysia ticks all the boxes. Government support, fan support, sponsorship and media coverage are all there. So the potential is huge,” he told a press conference after the FAM Extraordinary Congress (EGM) here today.

Windsor was responding to a question on Malaysia’s long-term prospects and the significance of the AFC-proposed governance reforms in helping FAM emerge as one of the region’s leading football associations.

He said Malaysia had already demonstrated its capabilities on the continental stage, citing the national team’s bronze-medal achievement at the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran and qualification for the 1980 Olympic Games.

“We always talk about the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran and the 1980 Olympics. Those achievements must return. FAM wants that more than anyone else. That can happen with the right governance structure in place and with the right people,” he said.

He added that AFC was equally excited about Malaysia’s future and believed the country’s football potential remained largely untapped.

The AFC-proposed statutes, comprising 94 articles, were approved at today’s EGM following an audit of FAM’s administration aimed at strengthening governance and driving positive reforms within the national football governing body.

Among the key proposals are the abolition of the deputy president’s post, the reduction of vice-presidential seats to three, and the restructuring of the FAM Executive Committee (Exco).

The 77-page draft statutes also propose an expansion of FAM’s affiliate membership, including granting Super League clubs automatic affiliate status and voting rights at congresses, subject to the condition that they are separate entities from state football associations.

Earlier, the AFC presented a quality audit report which found that most of FAM’s operational areas were assessed at Level 2 (Pre-Intermediate), indicating that improvements are needed across various aspects of the organisation.

The assessment covered 11 key areas, namely governance and legal affairs, administration, finance, human resources, infrastructure, communications, marketing, commercial development, advocacy, competitions and performance development.

The EGM today was chaired by Windsor and attended by FAM honorary president Tan Sri Hamidin Mohd Amin, FAM secretary-general Datuk Noor Azman Rahman, 35 delegates representing all 18 affiliates, as well as representatives from Fifa and the AFC, and observers.

In January, all FAM Exco members for the 2025-2029 term announced a mass resignation on a collective and voluntary basis.

The decision was made unanimously in the interest of organisational responsibility rather than personal interests or positions, and was seen as a prudent and principled move in light of public scrutiny surrounding the heritage player issue, as well as to safeguard the integrity of FAM. — Bernama

DUBAI, June 8 — Iran’s military announced today that its first wave of attacks on Israel since a ceasefire in April was now over, although it threatened to resume the strikes if Israel continued attacks on Lebanon.

There was no immediate response from Israel, which had launched attacks ‌on Iran after Tehran fired missiles towards Israel late on Sunday. Iran had said its strikes were in retaliation for Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Beirut.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump demanded that Israel and Iran “immediately stop ‘shooting’”.

The flurry of attacks drove oil prices up around 4 per cent and threatened to wreck US-led efforts to broker a deal to end the war.

Israel hit a petrochemical plant in southwestern Iran that it said was used to produce ballistic missiles. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it retaliated with a strike aimed at a similar Israeli plant in the city of Haifa.

The first direct exchange between Israel and Iran since April could interfere with Trump’s efforts to end the war he launched alongside Israel at the end of February.

Iran’s military headquarters said it had “delivered a painful response” against Israel for its attacks on Lebanon, including Sunday’s strikes on the outskirts of Beirut.

“Accordingly, the operations of the armed forces are hereby declared halted; however, it is emphasized that if the aggressions and acts of mischief continue — including in southern ‌Lebanon — much more severe and crushing actions than before will follow.”

In one of several posts on social media, Trump said Israel and Iran both ⁠wanted “an immediate CEASEFIRE! Final negotiations on ‘Peace’ are proceeding, subject to ignorance or ⁠stupidity getting in its way.” He added that a US blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place ⁠till a final deal was reached.

An Israeli ⁠official said Trump had spoken on ⁠Monday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Earlier on Monday an Israeli military official said Israel was prepared for a range of options for military strikes against Iran, from several days to “as long as it takes”. Israel had struck Iranian air defence systems that were being rebuilt after previous Israeli attacks, as well as ⁠the petrochemical plant.

In a similarly defiant vein, an Iranian military source quoted by the Tasnim news agency had said Tehran was prepared for a prolonged conflict with Israel and for renewed strikes against US interests in the region.

‘Extreme suspicion’

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran was exchanging messages with Washington in an atmosphere of “extreme suspicion”. Israel’s actions in Lebanon, whether carried out with US knowledge and consent or not, were aimed at sabotaging diplomacy, he added.

“The United States bears direct responsibility for any action the Zionist regime (Israel) takes in relation to violating regional peace and security against Iran,” ⁠he said.

Iranian media reported the sound of explosions in Tehran on Monday, and the semi-official Mehr news agency said air defences had shot down a drone over the capital. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis pledged in a ⁠statement to stop Israel’s maritime navigation in the Red Sea, and said they had also fired missiles at Israel.

The Houthis have so far largely stayed out ⁠of the regional war; ⁠they control territory at the mouth of the Red Sea, increasingly important as the alternative route for millions of barrels per day of Middle East oil otherwise blocked by Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz.

The Israeli military official said Iran had fired “close to 30 ballistic missiles” at Israel since Sunday evening, and the Houthis a further ‌two missiles.

Israel said it struck targets at the Mahshahr petrochemical complex that were used to produce and export raw materials for Iran’s missile programme. A provincial official told Iranian media parts of the plant were damaged. — Reuters

TEHRAN, June 6 — Iran on Saturday slammed World Cup host the United States over what it called “discriminatory treatment” in not granting visas for some members of the Iranian delegation to the tournament.

“Why do you not say that visas were denied to a large portion of the managerial and executive staff, technical advisers, and others who are an integral part of any national football team?” the Iranian embassy in Turkey said in a post on X, referring to an earlier announcement by US envoy Tom Barrack that visas had been granted to players.

“You have now escalated the deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran’s national football team to its highest level,” the embassy added.

On Friday, Barrack praised the US embassy in Ankara over its “work processing visas for Iran’s national football team” after the head of the Iranian football federation, Mehdi Taj, said on the same day that Iranian delegation have submitted passports for visas.

But reports on Saturday from the Iranian media, including sports media Varzesh3, said members of the delegation, including Taj along with executive members and analysts have not been granted visas.

On Friday, Taj told state television that his “assessment is that all visas will be issued in full, and there most likely will not be any problem in this regard”.

The Iranians relocated their World Cup base, which was initially planned to be in Tucson, Arizona, to the northwestern Mexican border city of Tijuana.

All three of the team’s group matches are in the United States.

Team Melli is to kick off their tournament with two games in Los Angeles against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21, and to play Egypt on June 27 in Seattle. — AFP

TEHRAN, June 1 — The United States and Iran traded strikes today as negotiations between the two sides stalled and Tehran again insisted any peace deal must also cover Israel's escalating offensive into Lebanon.

Weeks of indirect talks marked by stark threats and several waves of air strikes have so far failed to agree an end to the war or the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping channel for Gulf oil and gas.

The latest exchange of fire coincided with Israel expanding its offensive into Lebanon, with Prime Minister Netanyahu vowing to push deeper into the country and instructing the military to strike "terror targets" in a southern district of Beirut.

The United States has backed its ally's operations in Lebanon against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, while still trying to come to an agreement with Iran to end the war it launched in late February with strikes on Tehran, reopen Hormuz and impose controls on Iran's nuclear programme.

But Iran again said Monday it had not yet reopened any nuclear negotiations and insisted that Israel must halt its offensive in Lebanon before any wider deal to end the war can be agreed.

The US naval blockade on Iran's ports and the escalation in Lebanon were "clear evidence of US non-compliance with the ceasefire", Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted on X.

Essential conditions

"We know when it is necessary to act on nuclear matters," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a weekly news briefing.

"No negotiations have taken place on the details of the nuclear file. At this stage, our priority is ending the war."

"We insist that a ceasefire in Lebanon is an essential condition for any deal aimed at ending the war," Baqaei said, adding: "The United States is also violating the ceasefire, including this morning."

The US military said it had carried out "self-defence strikes" on Iranian radar and drone control sites over the weekend -- its third such wave in just over a week -- this time in response to the downing of a US MQ-1 drone.

Shortly afterwards, Iran's Revolutionary Guards told state media they had targeted an airbase used by the US military from which the attack originated.

The Guards did not identify the country said to be hosting the base, but the Kuwaiti military said its air defence had intercepted "hostile missile and drone attacks".

Sticking points 

Iran was already in talks with the United States about the fate of its nuclear programme in February, when the US and Israel launched air and missile strikes that wiped out much of the Islamic republic's senior leadership and plunged the Middle East into war.

While Tehran has long insisted that its nuclear programme is for purely civilian ends, the United States and its Western allies suspect it aims to develop am atomic weapon.

Late Sunday, Trump posted on social media that the deal under discussion "states, very clearly, that Iran will not have a Nuclear Weapon".

Iran has said it needs the release of $12 billion in frozen assets before engaging in substantive talks on its nuclear programme, and dismissed earlier Trump comments suggesting that its stockpile of enriched uranium would be destroyed.

Lebanon front 

A truce in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah formally began on April 17 but it has never been observed, with both sides accusing each other of violating it.

Israel has pursued a ground offensive into southern Lebanon, raising its flag over a medieval castle that served as a base during its two-decade occupation of the country in the 1980s and 1990s.

Netanyahu called the retaking of the Beaufort stronghold "a dramatic shift" and vowed to continue the fight against Hezbollah, with strikes and incursions ever deeper into Lebanon.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday on the widening Israeli offensive, diplomatic sources told AFP. — AFP