Financial consulting company Rinani Group Berhad is happy to announce the purchase of Kuala Lumpur City FC (KL City FC), which finished second in Asia in the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup, will win the 100-year-old Piala Malaysia in 2021 for the fourth time in club history, and took home the Federal Territory Minister's Trophy on Saturday for the second time.
Rinani director Azri Azerai said, “We welcome KL City FC to the Rinani family, which consists of MGRC (Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Berhad), Bintai Kinden Corporation Berhad, SCIB (Sarawak Consolidated Industries Berhad) and Reneuco Berhad who are joining us on this venture. We look forward to KL City FC continuing to be a trailblazer, with the support of our fans.”
“KL City FC, now an elite club, will keep pushing boundaries and continue to be a professionally managed football club with “football decisions” being the core. We would also like to thank the Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA) for the work that they have done.”
“Our acquisition of KL City FC is part of the mandatory privatisation process that the Malaysian Football League is enforcing on all state-owned football clubs as football in the country transforms to a more professionally run sports that benefit all stakeholders.”
KLFA president Khalid Abdul Samad said: “I welcome the news of Rinani taking a majority stake in KL City FC and becoming a joint partner together with KLFA of the club. We hope supporters of KL City FC will accept this change in ownership as private sector participation is vital to the future of Malaysian sports because entrepreneurs know best how to push for success and ensure viability.”
The international governing bodies of football, FIFA and the AFC, have mandated that state-run football teams be professionally managed, privately financed, and independently owned. The privatisation of KL City FC is in accordance with these guidelines.
Last Saturday, KL City FC held a game against Perak at Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium in Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras. The game ended 3-0 in favour of the home team. Live coverage of the game was provided by Astro Network