Malaysia Denies FIFA Accusations of Falsified Player Citizenship Papers, Will Appeal Sanctions
The Malaysian Football Association (FAM) has announced it will contest FIFA's ruling to penalize the body for supposedly falsifying the citizenship documents of multiple foreign-born players, who have now been banned from representing the national team for one year.
The Global Football Body's Allegations and Fines
In the ninth month, FIFA levied a fine of $438,000 on FAM and banned the footballers after discovering that their ancestors were not Malaysian by birth as claimed, but instead in the South American nation, Brazil, the European country and Spain. The international football governing body restated its assertions about falsified papers in a official investigation report released on Monday.
Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's 4-0 win over the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this summer – was also penalized twenty-five hundred dollars.
The accused group includes Spanish-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Garces and Iraurgui, born in Argentina Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Figueiredo who was hails from the South American country.
The Governing Body's Position on Forgery
"Forgery constitutes, pure and simple, a form of cheating," stated FIFA in its findings.
"The act of forgery strikes at the heart of the fundamental principles of the sport, not only those regulating a athlete's qualification to play for a country's squad, but also the essential values of a fair game and the concept of fair play," commented a senior official, deputy chairperson of FIFA's ethics panel.
The Association's Reply and Appeal Plan
The international body's document states that the Malaysian association admitted it "received inquiries by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and did not attempt to personally confirm the validity of the documentation."
"The original birth certificates indicated a stark difference to the submitted papers," it said.
The organization also said it was "managed to acquire the relevant original documents without hindrance," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.
FAM reacted to the global body's report in a official communication on Tuesday, maintaining the discrepancies were the result of an "administrative error" and the players are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."
"Claims that players 'obtained or were aware of fraudulent papers' are baseless as no solid evidence has been provided to date," the statement declared.
The association will present an formal challenge of the international body's decision, using original documents that have been verified by the national authorities.
Southeast Asian Background and Official Reactions
South-east Asian nations have recently engaged in recruitment drives for naturalised players, modelled after the Indonesian approach of recruiting Dutch-born players from the Indonesian diaspora.
The country's minister for sports, the official, said in a release that "FAM must finish the appeal process and that they should not stay quiet but must respond clearly to all revelations from the global authority."
"Fans are angry, hurt and disappointed," she remarked.
Present Status and Forthcoming Matches
Despite doubt regarding the squad's lineup, the team is now placed one hundred twenty-third in FIFA's AFC ranking and is scheduled to play in Asian Cup qualifiers this month, meeting Laos on the upcoming Thursday.
