The Malaysian Football Association Rejects FIFA Allegations of Forged Player Nationality Documents, Will Appeal Sanctions
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has announced it will appeal FIFA's decision to sanction the body for supposedly forging the citizenship documents of seven foreign-born players, who have now been banned from representing the country for 12 months.
FIFA's Claims and Penalties
In the ninth month, FIFA levied a penalty of $438,000 on FAM and suspended the footballers after discovering that their ancestors were not Malaysian by birth as stated, but instead in Argentina, the Brazilian nation, the European country and Spain. The global football governing body reiterated its claims about doctored papers in a disciplinary committee report released on Monday.
Each of the individuals – 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 penalized twenty-five hundred dollars.
The implicated group includes Spanish-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Garces and Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Serrano who was originated in the Netherlands, and Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo who was hails from Brazil.
The Governing Body's Stance on Document Falsification
"Forgery represents, pure and simple, a form of dishonesty," stated FIFA in its findings.
"Forging documents strikes at the very core of the basic tenets of football, not only those governing a player’s eligibility to play for a country's squad, but also the essential values of a clean sport and the concept of sportsmanship," added a senior official, vice-chair of FIFA's disciplinary committee.
FAM's Reply and Appeal Plan
FIFA's document claims that FAM admitted it "received inquiries by external agencies regarding the athletes' ancestry and failed to independently verify the validity of the papers."
"Initial documentation indicated a sharp contrast to the documentation provided," it noted.
The organization also said it was "able to obtain the authentic papers without hindrance," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.
FAM responded to the global body's allegations in a statement on Tuesday, asserting the inconsistencies were the outcome of an "procedural mistake" and the individuals are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."
"Allegations that the athletes 'obtained or were aware of fraudulent papers' are baseless as no solid evidence has been provided so far," the announcement said.
The governing body will submit an official appeal of the international body's ruling, using authentic papers that have been certified by the Malaysian government.
Regional Context and Political Reactions
South-east Asian nations have recently engaged in recruitment drives for naturalised players, inspired by Indonesia's strategy of recruiting Dutch-born players from the overseas community.
The country's minister for sports, the official, said in a release that "FAM needs to 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 let down," she added.
Present Situation and Upcoming Matches
Despite doubt regarding the squad's composition, the team is now placed one hundred twenty-third in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to compete in Asian Cup qualifiers this month, meeting Laos on the upcoming Thursday.
