KUALA LUMPUR – Is Kuala Lumpur City FC set to follow the same blueprint as legendary club Barcelona?
Things are moving in the right direction for KL City to become a publicly owned football club, similar to Barcelona, under potential new ownership.
As the only football club from Kuala Lumpur competing in the Super League, the City Boys have faced several financial crises over the past two years.
The club currently falls under the purview of the Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA) and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).
The club suffered a severe financial blow after Rinani Group Bhd, one of its biggest stakeholders, reduced its sponsorship from 51% to 10% in 2022.
In November last year, the club’s chief executive officer, Stanley Bernard, and former KLFA president Khalid Abdul Samad took separate loans worth RM300,000 to pay their players, whose salaries were overdue by several months.
It was also reported that KL City’s financial woes reached a boiling point after their skipper, Paulo Josue, alleged that he had not received his salary for seven months and was currently surviving on his savings.
Speaking to Scoop, businessman and Paralympic Council of Malaysia (PCM) president Datuk Seri Megat D. Shahriman Zaharudin, who has recently announced his intention to acquire a 51% stake in KL City, said he is ready to discuss with DBKL the commercialisation of the club and making it a publicly owned company like Barcelona.
He believes that the club should operate like Barcelona if it hopes to escape its ongoing financial turmoil.
For the record, Barcelona, which competes in the Spanish La Liga, is 100% owned by its fans, known as “socios.”
This distinctive ownership model grants a voice to supporters, allowing them to participate in key decisions through a democratic voting process. The socios elect a president and a board of directors, contributing to the club’s direction and identity.
“I’m a big admirer of Barcelona and how they manage the club. For now, there’s always been talk about why DBKL is not channelling enough money to the club.
“But how can DBKL achieve this if they have other commitments in taking care of the necessities of the public in KL? My plan is to discuss with DBKL about making KL City into a publicly owned football club.
“I’m good at commercialisation, and I’m planning to set up an Sdn Bhd to establish a fan club by collecting between RM30 and RM50 from each KL resident out of the approximately 2 million population in KL.
“Through this, we can have a town hall and then make a motion with DBKL to demand 10% of their RM2 billion budget that they receive annually. Through this, DBKL will not have a choice but to allocate their funds to the club since the public has now become part of the stakeholders.
“I have even spoken to KL City’s chief executive, Stanley, and the club’s patron, Fahmi Fadzil. We need to make a change, and this is my plan to ensure that the club becomes more successful in the years to come,” said Megat when contacted.
Earlier, it was reported that Federal Territories Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa stated that DBKL has no obligation to channel any form of allocation to both KLFA and KL City.
This statement came in response to former KLFA president Khalid’s recent request for 0.5% of DBKL’s total income to be allocated to these football entities.
KL City FC currently ranks fourth in the Super League with seven points from four matches. – July 19, 2024