Malaysia rejects Fifa accusations it forged players’ citizenship and says it will appeal sanctions

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) will appeal Fifa’s decision to sanction it for allegedly falsifying the citizenship documents of seven overseas-born players who have been suspended from representing the country for one year.

Fifa fined FAM $438,000 this September and suspended the players after it discovered their grandparents were not born in Malaysia as FAM had claimed, but instead in Argentina, Brazil, the Netherlands and Spain. The global football body reiterated its claims about falsified or doctored documentation in a disciplinary committee report released on Monday.

Fifa’s “grandfather rule” allows overseas-born players to represent countries that their biological parents or grandparents were born in, aiming to prevent national football teams from importing foreign players to boost performance.

Each of the players – who all took part in Malaysia’s 4-0 win over Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this June – was also fined $2,500.

The accused group includes Spanish-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo who was born in Brazil.

In its report Fifa said that forgery “constitutes, pure and simple, a form of cheating”.

“The act of forgery strikes at the very core of the fundamental principles of football, not only those governing a player’s eligibility to represent a national team, but also the essential values of a clean sport and the principle of fair play,” said Jorge Palacio, deputy chairperson of Fifa’s disciplinary committee.

Fifa’s report claims that FAM admitted it “was contacted by external agencies regarding the players’ heritage and failed to independently verify the authenticity of the documentation”.

“The original birth certificates indicated a sharp contrast to the documentation provided,” it said.

Fifa also said it was “able to obtain the relevant original documents without hindrance,” which highlighted a “a lack of proper diligence” by FAM.

FAM responded to Fifa’s report in a statement on Tuesday, maintaining the discrepancies were the result of an “administrative error” and the players are “legitimate Malaysian citizens”.

“Claims that players ‘acquired or were aware of fake documents’ are baseless as no solid evidence has been presented so far,” the statement said.

The association will present an official appeal of Fifa’s ruling, using original documents that have been certified by the Malaysian government.

South-east Asian countries have recently pursued recruitment drives for naturalised players, modelled after Indonesia’s strategy of recruiting Dutch-born footballers from the Indonesian diaspora.

Malaysia’s sports minister, Hannah Yeoh, said in a statement that “FAM needs to complete the appeal process and that they cannot remain silent but must respond clearly to all revelations made by FIFA.”

“Fans are angry, hurt and disappointed,” she said.

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