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| Full name | Perlis Football Association State Football Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Singa Utara (The Northern Lions) [1][non-primary source needed] | |||
| Founded | 1963 | |||
| Dissolved | 2019 | |||
| Ground | Tuanku Syed Putra Stadium | |||
| Capacity | 20,000 | |||
| Owner | Perlis Football Association | |||
| President | – | |||
| League | Malaysia M3 League | |||
| 2020 | – | |||
| Website | https://twitter.com/perlisfootball | |||
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Perlis FA State Football Team (Malay: Pasukan Bola Sepak Negeri Perlis), also known as Perlis FA, is a football team based in Kangar, Perlis, Malaysia which is run and managed by the Perlis Football Association (PFA). The team was founded in 1963 and is currently suspended by FIFA from playing in the Malaysian football league.[2] Before their suspension, the team played in the 2019 Malaysia Premier League. Year 2019 was the first ever year that Perlis did not enter any tournament in Malaysian League since 1963.
It was one of the 14 Malaysian state teams of the Malaysian football structure before the Malaysian football league demanded all teams competing in the country's top two leagues be run as professional clubs by 2021. Perlis FA is not run as a professional football club, but rather as a team that was funded and run by a Malaysian state football association that relied mostly on state government grants. The team was run was much like all other Malaysian state football teams competing in the old Malaysian football system before the year 2021. To outsiders who are not familiar with the Malaysian football system or league (before the year 2020), the team is simply known as Perlis FA because it was run by the Perlis Football Association. To those who follow Malaysian football on the other hand, the team was simply known as Perlis or Perlis State Football Team.
There were plans to privatize the team after Ahmad Amizal Shaifit Ahmad was elected PFA president in 2018, but the move did not materialise because the association fell into financial crisis the following year (in 2019). The financial crisis resulted in the team being suspended by FIFA for failing to settle salary arrears of players and coaches. Their participation in the Malaysian football league was subsequently cancelled. Stories of the financial crisis faced by the team were widely reported by the Malaysian media at the time.[3]
- ^ Che Ahmad, Anuar. "How Perlis football team got his 'Northern Lion' title". Facebook.com. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
- ^ "Football: Suspended PFA sneak back into M3 league". 10 August 2020.
- ^ "From powerhouse to ignominy: Perlis undone by fantastical promises of 'Doraemon'".