The Malaysian Football Association (Malaysia's football governing body) has announced it will contest FIFA's ruling to penalize the body for allegedly falsifying the nationality papers of multiple overseas-born players, who have now been banned from representing the country for one year.
In September, FIFA levied a fine of $438,000 on the Malaysian association and banned the players after discovering that their ancestors were not Malaysian by birth as stated, but rather in Argentina, the Brazilian nation, the European country and the Iberian nation. The international football authority restated its assertions about falsified papers in a disciplinary committee report released on Monday.
Each of the players – who all participated in Malaysia's four-nil win over the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this June – was also penalized twenty-five hundred dollars.
The accused individuals includes born in Spain Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, born in Argentina Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was originated in the Netherlands, and Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo who was hails from the South American country.
"Document falsification represents, plain and simple, a type of cheating," stated FIFA in its report.
"The act of forgery undermines the very core of the fundamental principles of football, not only those regulating a player’s eligibility to play for a country's squad, but also the core ethics of a clean sport and the principle of fair play," commented Jorge Palacio, vice-chair of FIFA's ethics panel.
The international body's report claims that the Malaysian association admitted it "received inquiries by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and did not attempt to independently verify the authenticity of the documentation."
"Initial documentation showed a sharp contrast to the documentation provided," it said.
The organization also mentioned it was "able to obtain the authentic papers without hindrance," which revealed a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.
The Football Association of Malaysia reacted to the global body's report in a official communication on Tuesday, maintaining the inconsistencies were the result of an "procedural mistake" and the players are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."
"Allegations that players 'obtained or were aware of fake documents' are unfounded as no concrete proof has been presented to date," the statement declared.
The association will submit an official appeal of FIFA's decision, using original documents that have been certified by the Malaysian government.
Southeast Asian nations have lately pursued hiring campaigns for naturalised players, modelled after the Indonesian approach of bringing in Dutch-born players from the overseas community.
Malaysia's minister for sports, the official, said in a statement that "the football association needs to finish the appeal process and that they cannot remain silent but must respond clearly to all revelations made by the global authority."
"Fans are upset, disappointed and disappointed," she added.
Regardless of doubt regarding the squad's composition, the team is now placed 123rd in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to compete in Asian Cup qualifiers in the coming weeks, meeting the Laotian team on the upcoming Thursday.
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