The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) says an “administrative error” is to blame for its dispute with Fifa over the heritage of seven naturalised Malaysian footballers recently sanctioned by the world football governing body.
Earlier today, Fifa’s disciplinary committee said contrary to documents submitted by FAM claiming the players’ grandparents were born in Malaysia, the global football body’s investigation found original records indicating they were born in Spain, Argentina, Brazil and the Netherlands.
In a statement, FAM said that the players involved are legitimate Malaysian citizens and insisted that Fifa’s depiction of the players was “inaccurate”.
“As previously explained, the error occurred due to a wrong submission – an administrative error – when a staff member accidentally uploaded documents provided by an agent instead of the official documents issued by the national registration department (JPN),” said FAM.
“Fifa’s claim that the players ‘obtained or were aware of false documents’ is baseless as no solid evidence has been produced to support this claim.”
FAM added that it is currently preparing an appeal to Fifa using the original, valid documents which have been certified by the government, adding that it remains committed to upholding the integrity of Malaysian football based on “verified facts and authentic documents”.
On Sept 26, Fifa’s disciplinary committee fined FAM 350,000 Swiss francs (RM1.9 million), while each of the seven players were suspended for 12 months and fined 2,000 Swiss francs (RM11,000).
Following the sanctions, FAM cited a “technical error” in the documents submitted to field the players – Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel – in a 2027 Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam.
Earlier today, Fifa released the full grounds of judgment for its decision to sanction FAM and the seven footballers, all of whom featured in Malaysia’s 4-0 win against Vietnam on June 10.
Fifa said its secretariat obtained the original birth certificates of the players’ grandparents directly from foreign registries and compared them with those filed by FAM, and that it was “comfortably satisfied” that the documents were forged after finding “sharp contrasts” between the originals and those sent by FAM.
The results showed that details in the players’ ancestral records had been altered, with their grandparents’ birthplaces changed from Spain, Argentina, Brazil, and the Netherlands in the original documents to places in Melaka, Penang, Johor, and Sarawak.
The committee also questioned the thoroughness of JPN’s verification process, this after JPN director-general Badrul Hisham Alias said the department could not retrieve the original handwritten birth records of the players’ grandparents from historical archives.
Fifa today called this revelation “an indication that the Malaysian government’s validation process may not have been based on original documents”, adding that it “calls into question the thoroughness of FAM’s verification process”.
