('''FAM''') was founded in 1982 as the governing body of
Football in the Republic of
Maldives . The football association under the guidance of Ministry of Youth development and Sports is responsible for all regulatory aspects of the Game of Football in the Maldives. It was in 1984 and 1986 FAM became a member of
AFC and
FIFA respectively.
FAM is governed directly via the influence Ministry of Youth, Republic of Maldives. The Ministry however, listens to the grievances of the top clubs quite closely as football has become quite interwoven with politics in Maldives, since multi-party politics was allowed a few years back. FAM constitutes of several inconsistent committees. The Disciplinary committee is quite noteworthy as for the inconsistent verdicts it has come up with in quite similar situations. FAM is housed in ''FAM house'' (in the capital island of
Malé ), which was a gift from FIFA. The FAM house is right across the main practice area for top clubs in Maldives. These include two artificial turf mini grounds (one in construction as at May 2007) & two Mini 'gravel' grounds.
The organization constitutes of the chairman, the vice chairman, the general secretary, the treasurer and the secretary.
AFC and FIFA require that their members are constituted of elected governance. FAM has an appointed governance, by the government of Maldives, which was reshuffled by the Ministry of Youth in the last quarter of 2006, in association with the political changes President
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom brought about. FAM was audited by the Audit Office (during the same period, i.e late 2006) of the Republic of Maldives and the association was accused with embezzlement of funds. However, the Chairman Mr.Abdul Shukoor was not sacked and is still in power. General Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Ismail Ali was transferred to a post in the Olympic Committee of the Maldives.
As of date, May 2007, FAM has not held general elections.
FAM is the governing body for football in the Maldives. It organizes the zone tournaments and the
Dhivehi League , FA cup Maldives, Cup Winners Cup. Maldivian football is divided by FAM in to a 3 tier entity, in which the 1st Division consists of 6 clubs. The number of clubs in the 2nd and 3rd division has been quite inconsistent. So has been the method and relegation rules so far. FAM is directly responsible for the organization of the individual matches, in which the referees come directly under the association and is not a separate entity, but rather as a referee's committee. It has been noted even in the season of 2007, many officials directly involved with club have been appointed as match commissioners in certain divisions.
