FIFA dismisses Football Association of Malaysia appeal over forged documents

World football governing body FIFA on Monday announced it has dismissed the Football Association of Malaysia's appeals over the "forgery and falsification" saga -- and has upheld the punishments it originally handed down last month.

Malaysian football was thrown into disarray at the end of September when FIFA ruled they had breached Article 22 of their disciplinary code, pertaining to "having used forged and/or falsified documents in FIFA proceedings".

These allegedly-fake documents, which were originally used as evidence that seven overseas-born players had grandparents of Malaysian heritage, and subsequently aided the process to gain them citizenship.

The players -- Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Garcés, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, João Figueiredo, Hector Hevel and Jon Irazábal -- were all granted eligibility to represent Malaysia at various points between March and June, and the septet all featured in a 4-0 win over Vietnam in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.

However, a formal complaint was lodged a day later which led to an opening of investigations by the secretariat of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

Upon the conclusion of the investigation, where FIFA announced that the offences had taken place, the FAM exercised its right to request for a detailed report which was then published on Oct. 6 -- where the "doctored" and "original" birthplaces of these players' grandparents were revealed in detail.

The FAM immediately expressed its intent to appeal, which has now led to Monday's ruling.

In their official statement, FIFA declared: "After analysing the submissions and conducting a hearing, the Appeal Committee decided to dismiss the appeals, and to confirm in its entirety the ... sanctions imposed upon FAM and the seven players."

These are as follows:

A fine of 350,000 Swiss francs imposed on FAM.

A fine of 2,000 Swiss francs and a 12-month suspension from all football-related activities imposed on the seven players in question.

The FIFA statement also noted that, upon Monday's notice, FAM and the players now have ten days to request a "motivated decision", which would then be followed by a 21-day period for a possible appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

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