The Malaysian Football Association Rejects FIFA Allegations of Forged Player Nationality Documents, Vows to Appeal Sanctions
The Football Association of Malaysia (Malaysia's football governing body) has announced it will contest FIFA's decision to penalize the body for allegedly forging the nationality papers of multiple foreign-born players, who have now been suspended from playing for the country for one year.
The Global Football Body's Allegations and Penalties
In September, FIFA levied a penalty of $438,000 on FAM and banned the players after finding that their ancestors were not born in Malaysia as stated, but rather in Argentina, the Brazilian nation, the European country and the Iberian nation. The international football governing body restated its assertions about doctored papers in a disciplinary committee report released on Monday.
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 implicated group includes Spanish-born Arrocha, Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Holgado and Machuca, as well as Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo who was hails from Brazil.
FIFA's Position on Document Falsification
"Forgery constitutes, pure and simple, a type of dishonesty," said FIFA in its report.
"Forging documents undermines the heart of the fundamental principles of football, not only those regulating a athlete's qualification to represent a country's squad, but also the core ethics of a clean sport and the principle of sportsmanship," commented Jorge Palacio, deputy chairperson of FIFA's disciplinary committee.
The Association's Reply and Appeal Plan
The international body's report claims that the Malaysian association conceded it "was contacted by external agencies regarding the players’ heritage 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 "managed to acquire the relevant original documents easily," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by the Malaysian body.
The Football Association of Malaysia reacted to the global body's allegations in a official communication on the following day, asserting the discrepancies were the result of an "procedural mistake" and the players are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."
"Allegations that players 'obtained or were knowledgeable of fraudulent papers' are baseless as no solid evidence has been presented so far," the announcement declared.
The association will present an formal challenge of FIFA's decision, using original documents that have been certified by the Malaysian government.
Regional Background and Official Reactions
Southeast Asian countries have recently engaged in recruitment drives for naturalised players, inspired by the Indonesian approach of recruiting Dutch-born players from the overseas community.
The country's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, stated in a release that "the football association must complete the appeal process and that they cannot remain silent but have to answer plainly to every disclosure from the global authority."
"Fans are angry, disappointed and let down," she added.
Present Status and Forthcoming Games
Regardless of doubt regarding the squad's composition, Malaysia is now placed one hundred twenty-third in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to compete in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup in the coming weeks, meeting the Laotian team on Thursday.
