Malaysian online media outlet Free Malaysia Today exclusively reported on Saturday that the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) may consider further sanctions against the Malaysian national team after FIFA ruled against the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) in its appeal regarding the scandal which they have used forging documents and had illegally fielded ineligible "naturalized" players in a crucial Asian Cup qualifier.

According to the report, a reporter contacted AFC Secretary General Datuk Seri Windsor John last month for the governing body's views and response to the controversy. He clearly stated at the time that if the FAM's appeal failed and FIFA indeed ruled that the evidence of the seven foreign players' falsified identities was conclusive, the AFC might consider making further punishment to the FAM and the national team in an appropriate manner with the rules.

It is understood that the AFC's Ethics and Disciplinary Committee has begun considering invalidating the results of the two matches in which these seven "naturalized" foreign players had played and won, instead administratively awarding Malaysia a 3-0 defeat.

This means that one of Malaysia's matches where they won 4-0 against Vietnam would be changed to a loss.

If this is true, Malaysia's AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers campaign will end prematurely.

On the other hand, according to the regulations permitted by FIFA's Ethics and Disciplinary Committee, the FAM use of falsified identities to "naturalize" players for participation in major international competitions is a serious crime, and the Malaysian national team could even face a four-year ban from the AFC.

If the AFC does implement such severe additional sanctions, it will further damage the Malaysian national team and further harm the reputation of Malaysian football.

Since the incident, the players involved, their agents, families, clubs, the FAM government officials, and even His Majesty Tunku Ismail, the Regent of Johor, who is suspected of involvement in the fraud, have all been shifting blame, with no one willing to take responsibility. 

The media, journalists, and many Malaysians are demanding the establishment of a Royal Independent Inquiry Commission to thoroughly investigate the matter and uncover the mastermind behind it.

It's worth noting that although the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has suspended its Secretary-General since the scandal broke, many believe the Secretary-General was merely a scapegoat used by the FAM to deflect attention and quell the controversy, given the Deputy President's evasive responses to questions regarding this scandal at a subsequent press conference.

Regardless, since the FAM has vowed to appeal the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), any news regarding whether the AFC will actually impose additional sanctions on the Malaysian national team will depend on the CAS's final ruling.

One trouble followed by another

In fact, following this incident, another scandal has recently erupted in Malaysian football concerning Johor Darul Ta'zim's alleged use of "naturalized" Filipino international players who have forged their identities in their matches.

Two weeks ago, this reigning Malaysian Super League champions and powerhouse, owned by the aforementioned Johor regent, was reported by several football-related YouTube contents creators worldwide for arranging for four "naturalized" Filipino international players with questionable identities to participate in their matches.

According to these videos, Johor Darul Ta'zim claimed that the four players were foreign players who had been "naturalized" by the Philippine Football Association, but their information could not be found on the association's official website, there were no news reports in the local area that the four players had been naturalized, and they had never played a single game for the Philippines national team.

What Happened

FIFA announced at the end of September that the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee ruled that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) had violated Article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC), which governs the falsification and manipulation of documents.

The investigation revealed that the FAM submitted falsified player eligibility documents for review in order to have some players naturalized and play in Malaysia's AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Vietnam.

Finally, after a thorough investigation, the FAM was found to have falsified the documents of seven "naturalized" players and fielded them in the match against Vietnam, a serious violation of Article 22 of the FDC.

As a result, the FIFA Ethics and Disciplinary Committee fined the FAM 350,000 Swiss francs.

The seven "naturalized" players — Hector Hevel, Imanol Machuca, Jon Irazabal, Rodrigo Holgado, Facundo Garces, and João Figueiredo, who scored in the match — were each fined 2,000 Swiss francs and banned for one year. During this period, they are prohibited from participating in any football-related activities.

Furthermore, following complaints from numerous other national football associations, the FIFA Ethics and Disciplinary Committee and the FIFA Court of Arbitration will investigate the eligibility documents of other naturalized players to determine if their identities were also falsified.

FIFA has notified the aforementioned players and the FAM of the ruling, and they have 10 days to request a copy of the written reasons for the decision.

Following the announcement, the FAM has expressed strong dissatisfaction and confirmed that it will appeal within seven days.

They stated that the authorities had indeed received confirmation from FIFA that these players were eligible to represent the Malaysian national team and reiterated that the FAM has always acted in good faith and with the principles of nomination.

Later, FIFA presented the genuine birth certificates of the seven players' grandparents, effectively refuting the FA,'s claim that their grandparents were born in Penang, Malacca, or other states within Malaysia. The appeal was rejected, and the original ruling was upheld.

However, the FAM adamantly refused to admit wrongdoing, even dragging government officials into the controversy, thus expanding its scope.

Since the controversy began, Machuca, one of the players, has even been dismissed by his club, Velez Sarsfield, for his lack of integrity.

Something fishy has been going on for a long time.

In fact, it is worth noting that this is not the first time that the FAM and the Malaysian national team have been embroiled in controversy over the issue of naturalized players.

Since October 2024, our website has been one of the few online media outlets globally to have questioned this issue.

Ever since then, our website have repeatedly pointed out that the issue of the Malaysian national team's abuse of the player naturalization system appears to be closely linked to the notoriously infamous local online media FR FUTURE TALENTS, Johor Darul Ta'zim and His Royal Highness Tunku Ismail.

Manchester United youngster Ethan Wheatley, former Burnley captain Josh Brownhill, and Dutch player Ferdy Druijf are among the players who have openly refuted FR FUTURE TALENTS.

However, after the report was released, the author was criticized by some Malaysian Chinese fans who blindly supported the FAM. However, the heavy sanctions imposed by FIFA have now confirm that the author's suspicions were correct from the beginning.