Former national football team forward Ahme Thoriq has been elected President of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM).
He won the election as the only competing candidate. However, he received backing from all the clubs in the FAM.
This is the second time the prolific ex-striker has been elected as the President of FAM. He was elected to the post in 2016, but only held the post for about four months as the members of the Executive Committee elected along with him resigned.
Under the FAM regulations, elections were held again, and Thoriq lost out to Bassam Adil Jaleel, the most recent FAM President.
Bassam, who held the post for the last two terms, has been embroiled in an embezzlement case after the state accused him of pocketing thousands of dollars from the funds sent to FAM by the world footballing body FIFA.
The first two charges against Bassam were for sending $10,000 of the FIFA money to his account and using it for personal purposes. He has also been accused of using USD 10,000 from FAM to invest into a company owned by him and his wife as well as using USD 2,000 to pay rent for his flat in Hulhumale'.
