Malaysia PM insists Man Utd fixture will go ahead
KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 (Reuters) - Malaysia will defy the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and host Manchester United in July, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi insisted on Friday.
The AFC had angered Malaysians earlier this week by ruling out a United friendly tour match in Malaysia because it would clash with its flagship tournament, the July 7-29 Asian Cup.
Banking on their huge fan base in Asia, United had been due to play in Kuala Lumpur against a Malaysian select team on July 27, two days before the Asian Cup final in Jakarta.
The match had looked to be off when the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) bowed to AFC pressure and said United were no longer welcome.
However, the Malaysian Prime Minister joined in the fray on Friday, telling reporters the game would go ahead as scheduled.
"We want them to visit Malaysia because this year is Visit Malaysia Year... if Manchester United play in Kuala Lumpur, there will be a lot of Manchester United fans around this region, including from Singapore and Thailand, coming here."
"We hope the organisers will not cancel the game. This is the wish of the government as part of Visit Malaysia Year," he said.
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2 comments:
Apparently the FAM singed a contract with the AFC agreeing not to promote any other football-related events during the Asian Cup...I wonder how it will reflect on our country if they don't honour legally-binding agreements...
hmm... well surprise surprise, today's news reports that the FAM is considering bowing to pressure byt he government.
What they are considering is that the Man U match is being organised as part of an Asian tour by a private company, ProEvents, and so the FAM will not have anything to do with the promotion of the match during the duration of the tournament, but will provide technical assistance since the match will take place after the tournament... clever aren't they...
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