Civil Court has ordered the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) to pay MVR 1.5 million to the State Trading Organization (STO).

The case pertains to an agreement regarding a football competition between FAM and STO on October 18, 2022, to organize a football competition called 'STO South League' in the southern part of the country as part of the 'Maldivian League'.

According to the agreement, the STO paid MVR 1.5 million to FAM as sponsorship fee to plan, organize and run the football tournament.

FAM breached the agreement because the tournament was not organised as per the agreement reached between the two sides, sTO said.

As such, STO filed a civil suit in the Civil Court seeking to recover MVR 1.5 million paid as sponsorship fee from FAM, declaring the Association to have violated the agreement.

According to the indictment, STO repeatedly requested the FAM to inform it of the date of the tournament as it was stated in the agreement that the tournament would begin on December 6, 2022. However, none of these claims have been responded to by the FAM.

Therefore, taking into account the evidence provided by the STO, the Court held that FAM had breached the agreement between the two parties and that the MVR 1.5 million paid as sponsor fee for hosting a football tournament called 'STO South League' was liable to be returned to the STO.

Therefore, the civil court has directed fam to pay all the money to the civil court by September 15.