The Malaysian Football Association Rejects FIFA Allegations of Forged Player Nationality Documents, Vows to Challenge Sanctions
The Malaysian Football Association (Malaysia's football governing body) has declared it will contest FIFA's ruling to sanction the organization for supposedly forging the citizenship documents of multiple overseas-born players, who have now been suspended from playing for the national team for 12 months.
FIFA's Allegations and Fines
In the ninth month, FIFA levied a penalty of $438,000 on the Malaysian association and suspended the players after finding that their ancestors were not born in Malaysia as stated, but instead in Argentina, the Brazilian nation, the Netherlands and the Iberian nation. 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 twenty-five hundred dollars.
The implicated individuals includes born in Spain Arrocha, Garces and Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo who was born the South American country.
FIFA's Stance on Forgery
"Forgery represents, pure and simple, a form of cheating," said FIFA in its findings.
"Forging documents strikes at the very core of the fundamental principles of football, not only those regulating a athlete's qualification to play for a country's squad, but also the essential values of a clean sport and the principle of fair play," added a senior official, deputy chairperson of FIFA's disciplinary committee.
FAM's Reply and Appeal Plan
FIFA's report states that the Malaysian association admitted it "received inquiries by third parties regarding the players’ heritage and failed to personally confirm the authenticity of the papers."
"The original birth certificates showed a stark difference to the submitted papers," it noted.
FIFA also mentioned it was "able to obtain the authentic papers easily," which revealed a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.
FAM reacted to the global body's allegations in a statement on Tuesday, asserting the inconsistencies were the result of an "procedural mistake" and the individuals are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."
"Allegations that players 'obtained or were knowledgeable of fake documents' are unfounded as no solid evidence has been presented so far," the statement said.
The governing body 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 Official Responses
South-east Asian nations have recently engaged in hiring campaigns for foreign-born athletes, inspired by the Indonesian approach of recruiting born in the Netherlands players from the Indonesian diaspora.
Malaysia's sports minister, the official, said in a statement that "the football association needs to complete the challenge procedure and that they should not stay quiet but must respond clearly to all revelations made by FIFA."
"Fans are angry, disappointed and let down," she added.
Current Situation and Forthcoming Games
Regardless of doubt regarding the squad's composition, Malaysia is now ranked 123rd in FIFA's AFC ranking and is scheduled to compete in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup in the coming weeks, meeting the Laotian team on Thursday.
