🔗 Share this article

The Football Association of Malaysia (Malaysia's football governing body) has announced it will contest FIFA's decision to penalize the organization for allegedly falsifying the nationality papers of multiple foreign-born players, who have now been banned from representing the national team for one year.

FIFA's Allegations and Penalties

In September, FIFA imposed a penalty of over four hundred thousand dollars on FAM and banned the footballers after finding that their ancestors were not Malaysian by birth as stated, but rather in Argentina, the Brazilian nation, the European country and Spain. The international football governing body reiterated its assertions about falsified documentation in a official investigation report released on the start of the week.

Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's 4-0 win over Vietnam in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this summer – was also penalized $2,500.

The accused individuals includes Spanish-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Garces and Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Figueiredo who was born the South American country.

The Governing Body's Stance on Document Falsification

"Document falsification represents, plain and simple, a type of cheating," stated FIFA in its report.

"The act of forgery strikes at the heart of the fundamental principles of the sport, not only those regulating a athlete's qualification to play for a national team, but also the core ethics of a fair game and the principle of fair play," added Jorge Palacio, deputy chairperson of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

The Association's Response and Challenge Strategy

FIFA's report claims that the Malaysian association admitted it "received inquiries by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and did not attempt to independently verify the validity of the papers."

"The original birth certificates showed a sharp contrast to the submitted papers," it said.

The organization also said it was "managed to acquire the relevant original documents easily," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by the Malaysian body.

The Football Association of Malaysia reacted to FIFA's report in a statement on Tuesday, asserting the discrepancies were the result of an "administrative error" and the players are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."

"Claims that the athletes 'obtained or were knowledgeable of fraudulent papers' are unfounded as no concrete proof has been provided so far," the statement declared.

The governing body will present an formal challenge of FIFA's ruling, using original documents that have been verified by the national authorities.

Regional Background and Political Responses

Southeast Asian nations have lately pursued recruitment drives for foreign-born athletes, modelled after Indonesia's strategy of bringing in born in the Netherlands players from the overseas community.

The country's sports minister, the official, said in a statement that "the football association must complete the challenge procedure and that they should not stay quiet but have to answer plainly to every disclosure from the global authority."

"Fans are angry, hurt and disappointed," she remarked.

Present Situation and Forthcoming Games

Regardless of uncertainty surrounding the national team's composition, Malaysia is now ranked 123rd in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to play in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup in the coming weeks, meeting Laos on the upcoming Thursday.