Fifa has accused Malaysia of falsifying citizenship documents to allow seven foreign-born players to represent the national team.
The world football governing body fined and suspended the players in late September, and on Monday released a report explaining its decision.
Fifa claims the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) forged birth certificates to make it appear the players’ grandparents were Malaysian-born—a move the organisation described as “pure and simple, a form of cheating.”
FAM, however, has denied any wrongdoing, attributing the discrepancies to an “administrative error” and insisting the players are “legitimate Malaysian citizens.” The association plans to appeal Fifa’s sanctions.
Under Fifa’s “grandfather rule,” foreign-born players may represent a country if their parents or grandparents were born there, a regulation designed to prevent national teams from simply importing talent to boost performance.
The investigation followed Malaysia’s 4-0 victory over Vietnam in June, after questions arose over the players’ eligibility.
In September, Fifa’s disciplinary committee suspended the seven players for one year and fined them 2,000 Swiss francs ($2,500; £1,870) each. The committee also imposed a 350,000 Swiss franc ($440,000; £330,000) fine on FAM.
Fifa’s probe found that the birth certificates submitted by FAM—showing grandparents born in Malaysian cities such as Penang and Malacca—did not match original records, which showed the grandparents were actually born in countries including Argentina, Spain, the Netherlands, and Brazil.
The seven players involved are Spanish-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces, and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui; Argentinian-born Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca; Netherlands-born Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano; and Brazilian-born Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo.
Malaysia’s sports minister, Hannah Yeoh, said the scandal has damaged the country’s reputation and vowed to wait for FAM’s appeal before making any official statement.
“I also understand that all local football fans are naturally angry, disappointed and want to see improvements,” she said.
Malaysia is scheduled to face Laos in an Asian Cup qualifier this week, but the national team will be without the seven sanctioned players.
