The Malaysian Football Association Denies FIFA Accusations of Falsified Player Citizenship Documents, Will Appeal Punishments
The Malaysian Football Association (FAM) has declared it will appeal FIFA's ruling to sanction the body for supposedly falsifying the citizenship documents of seven overseas-born players, who have now been banned from playing for the national team for one year.
The Global Football Body's Claims and Penalties
In September, FIFA imposed a fine of $438,000 on the Malaysian association and suspended the footballers after discovering that their ancestors were not Malaysian by birth as claimed, but rather in the South American nation, Brazil, the European country and the Iberian nation. The international football governing body restated its assertions about doctored documentation in a disciplinary committee report released on the start of the week.
Each of the players – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil win over the Vietnamese team in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this June – was also fined twenty-five hundred dollars.
The implicated group includes born in Spain Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Iraurgui, born in Argentina Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Machuca, as well as Serrano who was born in the Holland, and Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo who was hails from Brazil.
The Governing Body's Stance on Document Falsification
"Forgery constitutes, plain and simple, a form 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 athlete's qualification to represent a national team, but also the essential values of a fair game and the concept of sportsmanship," added a senior official, deputy chairperson of FIFA's ethics panel.
FAM's Response and Appeal Plan
The international body's document claims that FAM admitted it "received inquiries by external agencies regarding the players’ heritage and failed to independently verify the authenticity of the papers."
"The original birth certificates indicated a sharp contrast to the submitted papers," it said.
FIFA also said it was "managed to acquire the authentic papers without hindrance," which highlighted a "lack of proper diligence" by the Malaysian body.
FAM reacted to the global body's report in a official communication on the following day, maintaining the inconsistencies were the result of an "procedural mistake" and the players are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."
"Allegations that players 'obtained or were aware of fake documents' are baseless as no concrete proof has been presented to date," the statement declared.
The governing body will submit an formal challenge of the international body's decision, using original documents that have been verified by the Malaysian government.
Southeast Asian Background and Political Responses
South-east Asian countries have recently pursued recruitment drives for foreign-born athletes, inspired by the Indonesian approach of recruiting born in the Netherlands footballers from the Indonesian diaspora.
Malaysia's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, said in a statement that "FAM needs to complete the challenge procedure and that they should not stay quiet but have to answer plainly to all revelations made by the global authority."
"Supporters are upset, disappointed and disappointed," she added.
Current Status and Upcoming Games
Regardless of uncertainty surrounding the national team's composition, the team is now placed one hundred twenty-third in FIFA's AFC ranking and is scheduled to compete in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup this month, meeting the Laotian team on the upcoming Thursday.
