The Malaysian Football Association Rejects FIFA Accusations of Forged Player Citizenship Papers, Will Challenge Sanctions
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has announced it will contest FIFA's decision to penalize the organization for supposedly forging the nationality papers of multiple overseas-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 FAM and banned the players after finding that their ancestors were not born in Malaysia as stated, but instead in the South American nation, the Brazilian nation, the European country and Spain. The global football governing body restated its claims about falsified documentation in a disciplinary committee report released on the start of the week.
Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's 4-0 win over the Vietnamese team in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this summer – was also penalized $2,500.
The accused individuals includes Spanish-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, born in Argentina Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Machuca, as well as Serrano who was born in the Holland, and Figueiredo who was hails from Brazil.
The Governing Body's Stance on Forgery
"Document falsification represents, pure and simple, a form of cheating," said 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 player’s eligibility to play for a national team, but also the core ethics of a clean sport and the principle of sportsmanship," added a senior official, vice-chair of FIFA's disciplinary committee.
The Association's Reply and Appeal Plan
The international body's report claims that FAM admitted it "received inquiries by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and did not attempt to independently verify the authenticity of the documentation."
"The original birth certificates indicated a stark difference to the documentation provided," it said.
The organization also mentioned it was "able to obtain the authentic papers without hindrance," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.
The Football Association of Malaysia responded to the global body's allegations in a official communication on Tuesday, asserting the inconsistencies were the result of an "administrative error" and the individuals are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."
"Claims that the athletes 'acquired or were aware of fraudulent papers' are baseless as no concrete proof has been presented to date," the statement said.
The association will present an formal challenge of FIFA's ruling, using authentic papers that have been verified by the national authorities.
Regional Context and Official Reactions
South-east Asian countries have recently engaged in hiring campaigns for foreign-born athletes, modelled after Indonesia's strategy of recruiting Dutch-born footballers from the overseas community.
Malaysia's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, said in a release that "FAM must complete the appeal process and that they cannot remain silent but have to answer plainly to every disclosure made by FIFA."
"Supporters are angry, hurt and let down," she added.
Current Situation and Upcoming Games
Regardless of doubt surrounding the national team's composition, the team is now ranked one hundred twenty-third in FIFA's AFC ranking and is scheduled to play in Asian Cup qualifiers in the coming weeks, meeting Laos on the upcoming Thursday.
