The Malaysian Football Association Rejects FIFA Accusations of Falsified Player Citizenship Documents, Will Appeal Punishments
The Malaysian Football Association (FAM) has announced it will appeal FIFA's decision to penalize the body for supposedly forging the citizenship documents of seven foreign-born players, who have now been banned from representing the national team for one year.
The Global Football Body's Claims and Fines
In the ninth month, FIFA imposed a penalty of over four hundred thousand dollars on the Malaysian association and suspended the players after finding that their grandparents were not Malaysian by birth as claimed, but rather in Argentina, Brazil, the European country and the Iberian nation. The international football authority reiterated its claims about falsified documentation in a disciplinary committee report released on Monday.
Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil win over Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this summer – was also penalized $2,500.
The implicated individuals includes born in Spain Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, born in Argentina Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo who was born Brazil.
FIFA's Position on Document Falsification
"Document falsification represents, plain and simple, a form of dishonesty," stated FIFA in its report.
"The act of forgery strikes at the very core of the basic tenets of the sport, not only those governing a athlete's qualification to represent a country's squad, but also the core ethics of a fair game and the concept of sportsmanship," added a senior official, vice-chair of FIFA's ethics panel.
The Association's Response and Appeal Plan
The international body's document states that FAM admitted it "received inquiries by external agencies regarding the athletes' ancestry and failed to personally confirm the authenticity of the papers."
"The original birth certificates indicated a stark difference to the documentation provided," it noted.
FIFA also mentioned it was "managed to acquire the authentic papers easily," which highlighted a "lack of proper diligence" by FAM.
FAM reacted to the global body's report in a official communication on Tuesday, asserting the inconsistencies were the outcome of an "procedural mistake" and the individuals are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."
"Claims that players 'acquired or were knowledgeable of fake documents' are baseless as no concrete proof has been provided to date," the announcement said.
The association will present an formal challenge of the international body's decision, using original documents that have been verified by the Malaysian government.
Regional Context and Political Responses
Southeast Asian nations have lately engaged in recruitment drives for foreign-born athletes, modelled after the Indonesian approach of recruiting Dutch-born footballers from the overseas community.
Malaysia's sports minister, Hannah Yeoh, said in a release that "FAM needs to complete the challenge procedure and that they cannot remain silent but have to answer plainly to all revelations from the global authority."
"Fans are angry, hurt and disappointed," she remarked.
Current Status and Upcoming Matches
Regardless of doubt surrounding the national team's lineup, the team is now ranked 123rd in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to compete in Asian Cup qualifiers in the coming weeks, facing the Laotian team on Thursday.
