FAM opens its election applications ahead of July 26 vote

The Football Association of Maldives (FAM) has officially opened applications for candidates seeking to contest its upcoming presidential election, scheduled for July 26 2025.

According to the announcement published in the government gazette today, the deadline to submit candidacy applications is Sunday, July 6. Applicants must personally submit their completed forms, which must include a full list of their proposed Executive Committee members, comprising:

- President

- First (Senior) Vice President

- Second Vice President

- Seven General Members

As per current FAM regulations, at least two members of the Executive Committee must be female.

FAM has included the official candidacy form in today’s announcement. The second page of the form designates space to list the ten proposed executive members. It also includes an optional section for alternate candidates, allowing presidential hopefuls to name potential replacements should any primary candidate be found ineligible.

To qualify, each candidate must also submit letters of support from five FAM member clubs, with at least two of these clubs belonging to the First Division. The recently adopted FAM constitution that was passed last Friday, expanded the number of First Division clubs from 8 to 10. The Second Division currently includes 13 clubs.

Alongside the election application, candidates must submit a declaration of integrity, which includes a pledge to act independently and impartially if elected.

The basic eligibility criteria to run for president include:

- Maldivian citizenship

- Age between 21 and 65

- No criminal record

Candidates must also have at least two years of active experience as a football official or player within the past five years. However, under transitional provisions of the new constitution, this requirement does not apply to the two female members of the Executive Committee for this election.

June 28: Applications open

July 6: Deadline to submit candidacy forms

July 9: Last date to notify candidates of incomplete submissions

July 13: Deadline to resubmit completed forms

July 15: Final decision by Electoral Committee on candidate eligibility

July 16: Final pre-election meeting to announce the official list of candidates and agenda for the Electoral Congress

July 26: Electoral Congress and Presidential Election

The election will be conducted under the supervision of the Normalization Committee, whose one-year mandate from FIFA concludes at the end of July.