THE 2025/2026 Super League season is expected to run smoothly without financial issues following the tightening of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) system by the Malaysia Football League (MFL).
MFL President Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan said the implementation of new financial monitoring software through the FFP system will have a significant impact in ensuring that only financially stable teams are eligible to compete.
“We control it through FFP. Previously it was usually six months but now it’s three months, we will constantly monitor. But as I said from the beginning, declare your budget.
“That is important, and God willing, I am confident and believe it can be done, there will be no problems (for the 2025/2026 season),” he said after a joint meeting with the State Football Associations (FA) & a meeting with Football Clubs (FC) at Wisma FAM, here, today.
According to him, financial monitoring is no longer done periodically as before, but continuously and in real-time through the newly introduced FFP system.
Commenting on the issue of signing up to 15 foreign players in one team, which could ensnare clubs in a financial crisis, he explained that each team will be monitored based on their actual capabilities.
“If you can only afford five, then take five. Don’t follow your desires. We will advise and control. What’s important is that they must honestly declare their budget from the start. We don’t want to repeat the same episode every year,” he said.
MFL previously announced that they would standardize the player registration limit to 30 for all clubs, including those competing in the AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE) and AFC Champions League 2 (ACL2).
Previously, ACLE and ACL2 clubs were allowed to register 34 players, while other clubs only 32 players.
The same meeting also agreed to allow all clubs to register a maximum of 15 foreign players, with a quota of nine players on the field (including substitutes) consisting of four open, one Asian, and two ASEAN players.
The Malaysia League now has a new look with the full implementation of FFP, which limits club salary expenditure to a maximum of 80 percent of their annual budget for the 2025-2026 season.