KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) have defended their selection of S. Logeswaran as the referee for the Malaysia Cup final, which Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) won after defeating Terengganu FC 3 - 1 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Friday (December 8).
FAM secretary-general Datuk Noor Azman Rahman said the selection of Selangor resident Logeswaran was made after getting the approval of the FAM Referees Committee by taking into account his admirable performance throughout this season's Malaysia League (M-League) campaign.
He said Logeswaran was also chosen because of his status as a neutral referee.
"Logeswaran is among the senior referees in the M-League, and he is also a Category A national referee,” Azman said in a statement today.
Logeswaran's selection was also influenced by FAM's constraints to appoint six local match officials with the status of International Football Federation (Fifa) referees.
"Razlan Joffri Ali and Kamil Zakaria are Terengganu-born referees; Tuan Yaasin Tuan Hanafiah is a Johor-registered referee, while Usaid Jamal, who has just started his duty in Melaka and was formerly registered in Johor; thus they could not be appointed as referees have to be neutral.
"As for the remaining two Fifa referees, Suhaizi Shukri of Kedah has an AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Cup assignment while Penang's Nazmi Nasaruddin is in Saudi Arabi for refereeing duties,” he said.
Meanwhile, regarding several contentious decisions during the final, including awarding two penalties each to JDT and Terengganu, Azman said all the decisions were proven right after reviewing the video recordings.
He added FAM never received any information about the so-called Fifa Referees Committee chairman Pierluigi Collina reprimanding the quality of refereeing in the 2023 Malaysia Cup final and that the report, which went viral on social media, was fake news.
— Bernama
