Malaysia Denies FIFA Allegations of Forged Player Nationality Papers, Will Challenge Punishments
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has announced it will contest FIFA's ruling to penalize the body for allegedly falsifying the citizenship documents of multiple overseas-born players, who have now been suspended from playing for the country for 12 months.
The Global Football Body's Claims and Fines
In September, FIFA imposed a fine of $438,000 on FAM and banned the players after finding that their ancestors were not born in Malaysia as claimed, but instead in the South American nation, the Brazilian nation, the European country and the Iberian nation. The global football governing body reiterated its claims about doctored documentation in a disciplinary committee report published on Monday.
Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil victory over the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this June – was also fined twenty-five hundred dollars.
The implicated group includes Spanish-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Iraurgui, born in Argentina Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Figueiredo who was hails from the South American country.
FIFA's Stance on Forgery
"Forgery constitutes, pure and simple, a type of dishonesty," said FIFA in its findings.
"Forging documents strikes at the heart of the basic tenets of the sport, not only those regulating a player’s eligibility to play for a national team, but also the essential values of a clean sport and the principle of sportsmanship," added Jorge Palacio, vice-chair of FIFA's ethics panel.
The Association's Reply and Appeal Plan
The international body's report claims that FAM admitted it "was contacted by external agencies regarding the players’ heritage and failed to independently verify the authenticity of the papers."
"Initial documentation indicated a stark difference to the submitted papers," it said.
FIFA also mentioned it was "managed to acquire the relevant original documents easily," which revealed a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.
The Football Association of Malaysia responded to the global body's report in a official communication on the following day, maintaining the inconsistencies were the outcome of an "administrative error" and the players are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."
"Claims that the athletes 'obtained or were knowledgeable of fraudulent papers' are baseless as no concrete proof has been presented to date," the announcement said.
The association will submit an formal challenge of the international body's ruling, using authentic papers that have been verified by the Malaysian government.
Southeast Asian Context and Official Reactions
Southeast Asian nations have recently engaged in hiring campaigns for naturalised players, inspired by the Indonesian approach of recruiting born in the Netherlands footballers from the overseas community.
Malaysia's minister for sports, the official, said in a release that "the football association needs to complete the challenge procedure and that they cannot remain silent but must respond clearly to every disclosure made by FIFA."
"Fans are angry, hurt and disappointed," she added.
Present Status and Upcoming Games
Despite doubt regarding the squad's composition, the team is now ranked one hundred twenty-third in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is set to play in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup in the coming weeks, facing the Laotian team on Thursday.
