🔗 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 supposedly falsifying the citizenship documents of seven foreign-born players, who have now been banned from representing the national team for 12 months.

FIFA's Claims and Penalties

In the ninth month, FIFA levied a fine of over four hundred thousand dollars on the Malaysian association and banned the players after discovering that their ancestors were not born in Malaysia as claimed, but rather in the South American nation, the Brazilian nation, the Netherlands and the Iberian nation. The international football governing body reiterated its claims about doctored papers in a disciplinary committee report published on Monday.

Each of the individuals – who all participated in Malaysia's 4-0 win over the Vietnamese team in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this summer – was also penalized twenty-five hundred dollars.

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

FIFA's Position on Document Falsification

"Document falsification constitutes, pure and simple, a type of cheating," said FIFA in its report.

"The act of forgery strikes at the heart of the basic tenets of the sport, not only those governing a player’s eligibility to play for a national team, but also the essential values of a fair game and the concept of fair play," commented a senior official, deputy chairperson of FIFA's ethics panel.

The Association's Reply and Challenge Strategy

The international body's document states that the Malaysian association conceded it "was contacted by third parties regarding the players’ heritage and failed to independently verify the authenticity of the papers."

"The original birth certificates showed a stark difference to the submitted papers," it noted.

FIFA also mentioned it was "able to obtain the relevant original documents easily," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by the Malaysian body.

The Football Association of Malaysia responded to FIFA's report in a official communication on Tuesday, maintaining the discrepancies were the outcome of an "administrative error" and the players are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."

"Claims that players 'obtained or were aware of fake documents' are unfounded as no concrete proof has been presented so far," the announcement said.

The governing body will submit an formal challenge of FIFA's decision, using authentic papers that have been certified by the Malaysian government.

Southeast Asian Background and Political Responses

South-east Asian countries have lately engaged in hiring campaigns for naturalised players, modelled after Indonesia's strategy of bringing in born in the Netherlands footballers from the Indonesian diaspora.

The country's minister for sports, the official, said in a statement that "the football association needs to complete the appeal process and that they should not stay quiet but must respond clearly to every disclosure from the global authority."

"Supporters are angry, disappointed and let down," she added.

Current Status and Upcoming Matches

Regardless of uncertainty regarding the national team's lineup, Malaysia is now ranked 123rd in FIFA's AFC ranking and is set to compete in Asian Cup qualifiers this month, meeting Laos on Thursday.