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The Malaysian Football Association (FAM) has declared it will contest FIFA's ruling to sanction the organization for supposedly forging the citizenship documents of multiple foreign-born players, who have now been suspended from representing the national team for 12 months.

The Global Football Body's Allegations and Fines

In September, FIFA imposed a penalty of $438,000 on the Malaysian association and banned the players after discovering that their grandparents were not born in Malaysia as stated, but instead in Argentina, the Brazilian nation, the European country and the Iberian nation. The international football governing body restated its claims about falsified documentation in a disciplinary committee report released on Monday.

Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil win over the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this summer – was also penalized $2,500.

The implicated individuals includes born in Spain Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Iraurgui, born in Argentina Holgado and Machuca, as well as Serrano who was originated in the Holland, and Figueiredo who was born the South American country.

The Governing Body's Stance on Forgery

"Document falsification represents, pure and simple, a type of dishonesty," stated FIFA in its findings.

"Forging documents strikes at the heart of the basic tenets of football, not only those governing a athlete's qualification to represent a national team, but also the essential values of a fair game and the principle of fair play," added a senior official, vice-chair of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

FAM's Reply and Challenge Strategy

FIFA's document states that FAM conceded it "was contacted by external agencies regarding the players’ heritage and did not attempt to independently verify the validity of the documentation."

"The original birth certificates indicated a stark difference to the submitted papers," it said.

FIFA also said it was "managed to acquire the relevant original documents easily," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.

The Football Association of Malaysia responded to the global body's allegations in a official communication on the following day, maintaining the discrepancies were the result of an "procedural mistake" and the individuals are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."

"Claims that the athletes 'obtained or were knowledgeable of fake documents' are baseless as no concrete proof has been presented to date," the statement declared.

The association will submit an formal challenge of FIFA's decision, using original documents that have been verified by the Malaysian government.

Regional Background and Official Responses

South-east Asian nations have recently engaged in hiring campaigns for naturalised players, modelled after the Indonesian approach of bringing in born in the Netherlands players from the Indonesian diaspora.

Malaysia's sports minister, the official, stated in a statement that "the football association 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, disappointed and disappointed," she remarked.

Current Status and Upcoming Games

Regardless of uncertainty surrounding the squad's lineup, the team is now ranked 123rd in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to compete in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup this month, facing the Laotian team on Thursday.