Football Association of Maldives

National football association

Founded = 1982
FIFA affiliation = 1986
Region = AFC
Region affiliation = 1986
President = Ali Azim
Coach = Iodan Ivanov

Football Association of Maldives (FAM) was founded in 1982 as the governing body of football in the Republic of Maldives. The football association under the guidance of Ministry of Youth development and Sports is responsible for all regulatory aspects of the Game of Football in the Maldives. It was in 1986 FAM became a member of AFC and FIFAhttp://www.fifa.com/associations/association=mdv/news/index.html, FIFA.com home page for Republic of Maldives] respectively.

Ali Azim was elected as the new President of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) on Sunday July 20 2008.http://www.the-afc.com/eng/articles/viewArticle.jsp_167772372.html, the-afc.com ]

Organization

FAM is governed directly via the influence Ministry of Youth, Republic of Maldives. FAM is housed in "FAM house" (in the capital island of Malé), which was constructed with funding from FIFA. The organization constitutes of the chairman, the vice chairman, the general secretary, the treasurer and the secretary. AFC and FIFA require that their members are constituted of elected governance. FAM has an appointed governance, by the government of Maldives, which was reshuffled by the Ministry of Youth in the last quarter of 2006, in association with the political changes President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom brought about. FAM was audited by the Audit Office (during the same period, i.e late 2006) of the Republic of Maldives and the association was accused with embezzlement of funds. However, the Chairman Mr.Abdul Shukoor was not sacked and is still in power. General Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Ismail Ali was transferred to a post in the Olympic Committee of the Maldives.

Role & events

FAM is the governing body for football in the Maldives. It organizes the zone tournaments and the Dhivehi League, FA cup Maldives, Cup Winners Cup. Maldivian football is divided by FAM in to a 3 tier entity, in which the 1st Division consists of 6 clubs. The number of clubs in the 2nd and 3rd division has been quite inconsistent. So has been the method and relegation rules so far. FAM is directly responsible for the organization of the individual matches, in which the referees come directly under the association and is not a separate entity, but rather as a referee's committee. It has been noted even in the season of 2007, many officials directly involved with club have been appointed as match commissioners in certain divisions.

FAM Officials

*Last Updated - July 25

- President: Ali Azim, Chairman of New Radiant Sports Club
- Vice-President: Mohamed Rasheed – Sports director of Valencia Club
- Members:
1. Mohamed Thoufeeq Ali – Chairman of Club Eagles
2. Madih Ismail – Chairman of BG Sports Club
3. Mohamed Wisham – Chairman of Vyansa Club
4. Ahmed Naseem – Board member of Sports Club Velozia
5. Ahmed Mohamed – Guraidhoo Zuvaanuge Jamiyya

References

Maldives Football Blog
* [http://sarrc.wordpress.com/ Maldives Football weblog]

External links

Maldives Football Blog
* [http://sarrc.wordpress.com/ Maldives Football weblog]

* [http://www.famaldives.gov.mv/index.php?id=16 FA Maldives]
* [http://www.the-afc.com/english/national/default_NA.asp?nationalID=64 AFC website]
* [http://www.fifa.com/en/organisation/confederations/associationdetails/0,1483,MDV,00.html?countrycode=MDV FIFA website]