M’sia vows to appeal FIFA's fine & suspension of 7 players accused of faking nationality

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) announced on Oct. 6 that they will be issuing a fine and suspending seven Malaysian players for 12 months for allegedly fabricating their identification documents.

The ruling was first announced on Sep. 25, but grounds for it were not published until yesterday (Oct. 6).

Fabrication of birth certificates

In a letter published on their website, FIFA accused the naturalised players and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) of doctoring the players' grandparents' birth certificates to indicate that they were born in Malaysia instead of a foreign country.

FIFA rules stipulate that a naturalised player of a football team must hold a valid passport of the country they represent, and a biological parent or grandparent must also be born in the country, or at least lived there continuously for at least five years after 10 years old.

The rules are designed to prevent football associations from "buying" players by offering them monetary incentives and a new citizenship.

In this case, the seven players' grandparents had been born in Spain, Argentina, Brazil and the Netherlands instead of Malaysia, according to a list published in the letter.

The alleged fabrications came to light after a qualifier match between Malaysia and Vietnam on Jun. 10, according to the letter.

FIFA said they received a complaint the next day "regarding the eligibility of the Players 1, 3, 4, 6, and 7", in particular about the "questionable timeframe" within which they became naturalised citizens.

FAM claims ignorance of fabrication

According to the letter, the respondents claimed that neither FAM nor the players were aware of, or played any role in the alleged falsification of the documents.

The identification documents presented by the players to Malaysia's National Registration Department were cross-checked and their ancestral connections to Malaysia were authenticated, they said.

These same documents were supposedly forwarded to FIFA for verification.

The respondents also claimed that the alleged fabrications provided no benefit to the players nor FAM, as they were "naturalised citizens", which disqualifies it from being an infringement.

"Moreover, as a further proof of its commitment to regulatory compliance, FAM proactively sought further formal confirmation from FIFA regarding the Players’ eligibility status," they said.

They then urgently requested that FIFA reached a decision on the ruling as soon as possible before the team's next match on Oct. 9.

They also asked for the investigation to be closed and sanctions lifted.

FIFA's verdict

In response to the claims, FIFA said that the original birth certificates they obtained of the players "indicated a sharp contrast" to those provided by FAM.

The Malaysian authorities never received the original birth certificates, FIFA said, and issued copies only based on secondary information and foreign documents from Argentina, Brazil and Spain.

"The Malaysian government's validation process may not have been based on original documents, which calls into question the thoroughness of FAM's verification process," they concluded.

Penalties

In light of the allegations, FIFA said it will issue a CHF 350,000 (S$567,273) fine to FAM, as well as a fine of CHF 2,000 (S$3,242) per player.

All parties will have 30 days to pay their fines.

The accused players would also be suspended from all football-related activities for 12 months, effective immediately.

This means that they would be ineligible to represent Malaysia and will be excluded from upcoming tournaments in the next 12 months.

The Malaysian team may also face serious repercussions on their qualification for the 2027 Asian Cup, The Star reported.

If FIFA's ruling stands, Malaysia's match results may also be overturned, with points automatically awarded to their opponents, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Secretary-General Windsor John said. 

FAM to appeal decision

In response to the allegations, FAM said they will be presenting an official appeal to defend the integrity of their governance and verification process.

They also said the claims are false and accused FIFA of making groundless accusations with lack of evidence.

"Claims that players “acquired or were aware of fake documents” are baseless as no solid evidence has been presented so far," FAM wrote in a Facebook post.

Stressing that the accused players are legitimate Malaysian citizens, they said the mistake was caused by a wrong submission due to an administrative error.

"A staff member mistakenly uploaded a document from an agent instead of an official document issued by the Department of National Registration (JPN)," they claimed.

Top image via FAM/Facebook