FAM hires staff without public announcement for USD 2,800 to assist Normalization Committee

An individual has been hired by the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) on a salary of USD 2,800 (MVR 43,288) to assist the ongoing work of the Normalization Committee without any public job announcement.

The recruitment was confirmed by committee member Ismail Siman, who is currently responsible for media briefings on behalf of FAM. He stated that the hiring was approved by FIFA and aimed at accelerating the committee’s work as its term is set to expire on July 31.

FAM currently has an Acting General Secretary, Mohamed Shujau, but Siman said that due to Shujau’s workload with various administrative responsibilities, a dedicated staff member was needed to focus solely on normalization tasks.

Previously, under the leadership of former committee chair Ahmed Zuhoor, staff were hired through public announcements, including the appointment of a full-time General Secretary via publication in the Government Gazette. However, this recent hire was made without such a process.

“With the approval of FIFA, we hired the staff on a headhunt basis. FIFA has given us the right to hire a staff member this way,” he said.

The salary is funded through FIFA's operational budget. In addition, committee members themselves are directly paid by FIFA, with each member receiving USD 4,000 and the chair receiving around USD 6,000 per month.