Minister Mahloof calls on AFC President Sheikh Salman

Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Ahmed Mahloof has on Saturday paid a courtesy call on President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa.

The Minister announced the meeting via twitter on Saturday.

The meeting took place in London, United Kingdom and comes after a direct invitation from President Sheikh Salman.

Minister Mahloof wrote in his tweet that he had a “very productive” meeting with the President of AFC on Saturday.

Highlighting that the Maldives will “always welcome” the advice of the FIFA constitution, Minister Mahloof assured President Sheikh Salman that the Maldives will not contravene the constitution.

Minister Mahloof went on to assert that the Fact-Finding Committee, established recently, will “work within the boundaries”. The committee was recently assembled to investigate cases involving the Football Association of the Maldives (FAM).

Upon the establishment of the committee, AFC had on Wednesday asked for an official opinion from the AFC to which AFC responded that their cases may only be looked into by AFC and the FIFA and that a third party must not attempt to intervene.

Amid the dispute between the recently appointed Sports Minister and the FAM, AFC had even indirectly issued a warning to the Ministry, stating that the confederation is closely looking into matter relating to AFC.

The Minister had earlier posted a tweet that the Ministry will not be intervening in the affairs of FAM.