The Malaysian Football Association (FAM) said Tuesday it would sue FIFA sanctions after being criticised by the football governing body.
September, FIFA has stopped The seven overseas-born players who won 4-0 in Vietnam in June in the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers and featured in Malaysia for 12 months were fined $438,000, citing counterfeit or doctor documents.
In its full report released Monday, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee said, “The original birth certificate shows a sharp contrast to the documents provided,” referring to the FAM paper, claiming that all players had grandparents born in Malaysia and were eligible to represent the country under the FIFA regulations.
The committee reported that the original certificate showed that the above family members were actually born in the same country as the players: Argentina, Brazil, the Netherlands, Spain.
“Providing fraudulent documents with the aim of acquiring eligibility to play for a national team constitutes a form of pure and simple fraud. “Such actions erode trust in competitive fairness and put the essence of football at risk as an activity based on integrity and transparency.”
In a statement posted to Facebook, Famute challenged the FIFA investigation results.
“Assertions that players were aware of acquired or fake documents are unfounded as there has been no solid evidence to date,” he said. “FAM wants to assert that the heritage players involved are legal Malaysian citizens.”
The agency said there was administrative error in submitting documents and is preparing to appeal the ruling using the original documents recognized by the Malaysian government.
“FAM will present an official appeal regarding this conclusion and continue to commit to defending the integrity of national football based on facts and authentic documents.”
The FIFA report stated that FAM admitted that “we received contact from an outside agency regarding the player’s legacy, but failed to independently verify the reliability of the document.” FIFA added that “the original document related can be retrieved without obstacles,” highlighting the “lack of proper diligence” by FAM.
The Asian Football Federation, which runs the Asian Cup, will introduce the final outcome of the incident to its own disciplinary committee.
The revelation sparked rage in Malaysia.
“FAM has issued a statement saying it is a technical error, but it’s a mistake by staff. The 19-page statement includes very serious statements by FIFA, so all of which need improvement. said Hannah Yeo, Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister. “Fans are angry, hurt and disappointed.”
