Malaysia Denies FIFA Allegations of Falsified Player Citizenship Papers, Will Appeal Sanctions

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has announced it will appeal FIFA's decision to sanction the organization for allegedly forging the nationality papers of multiple foreign-born players, who have now been banned from playing for the country for 12 months.

FIFA's Claims and Penalties

In the ninth month, FIFA levied a fine of over four hundred thousand dollars on FAM and suspended the footballers 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 assertions about falsified documentation in a disciplinary committee report published on the start of the week.

Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil victory over Vietnam in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this summer – was also penalized $2,500.

The accused group includes born in Spain Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, born in Argentina Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Figueiredo who was born Brazil.

FIFA's Stance on Document Falsification

"Forgery represents, plain and simple, a form of cheating," said FIFA in its findings.

"Forging documents undermines the very core of the fundamental principles of the sport, not only those regulating a player’s eligibility to play for a national team, but also the essential values of a fair game and the concept of sportsmanship," added Jorge Palacio, deputy chairperson of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

FAM's Reply and Challenge Strategy

The international body's document states that FAM admitted it "was contacted by external agencies regarding the athletes' ancestry and did not attempt to personally confirm the authenticity of the papers."

"Initial documentation indicated a sharp contrast to the documentation provided," it said.

FIFA also mentioned it was "managed to acquire the relevant original documents easily," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by the Malaysian body.

FAM reacted to the global body's allegations 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."

"Claims that the athletes 'obtained or were aware of fraudulent papers' are baseless as no concrete proof has been presented to date," the statement said.

The governing body will submit an formal challenge of FIFA's ruling, using authentic papers that have been certified by the Malaysian government.

Regional Context and Official Reactions

South-east Asian nations have recently engaged in hiring campaigns for foreign-born athletes, modelled after Indonesia's strategy of bringing in Dutch-born footballers from the Indonesian diaspora.

The country's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, said in a statement that "the football association needs to complete the challenge procedure and that they cannot remain silent but must respond clearly to all revelations made by the global authority."

"Fans are upset, disappointed and let down," she added.

Present Status and Forthcoming Games

Regardless of uncertainty surrounding the squad's composition, Malaysia is now placed 123rd in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is set to compete in Asian Cup qualifiers in the coming weeks, meeting Laos on the upcoming Thursday.