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The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has announced it will contest FIFA's ruling to sanction the body for supposedly forging the citizenship documents of multiple overseas-born players, who have now been suspended from playing for the national team for one year.

FIFA's Claims and Penalties

In September, FIFA imposed a fine of over four hundred thousand dollars on the Malaysian association and suspended the players after discovering that their ancestors were not born in Malaysia as claimed, but instead in Argentina, Brazil, the European country and Spain. The global football authority restated its assertions about falsified documentation in a disciplinary committee report published on Monday.

Each of the players – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil win over the Vietnamese team in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this June – was also penalized twenty-five hundred dollars.

The accused individuals includes born in Spain Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, born in Argentina Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Figueiredo who was born the South American country.

FIFA's Position on Forgery

"Document falsification represents, plain and simple, a form of cheating," stated FIFA in its findings.

"Forging documents strikes at the very core of the basic tenets of football, not only those regulating a athlete's qualification to represent a country's squad, but also the essential values of a fair game and the principle of sportsmanship," commented a senior official, vice-chair of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

The Association's Response and Appeal Plan

FIFA's document claims that FAM admitted it "was contacted by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and did not attempt to independently verify the validity of the papers."

"The original birth certificates showed a sharp contrast to the submitted papers," it noted.

FIFA also said it was "able to obtain the relevant original documents without hindrance," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by the Malaysian body.

FAM reacted to the global body's allegations in a statement on Tuesday, asserting the discrepancies were the result of an "procedural mistake" and the individuals are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."

"Claims that the athletes 'acquired or were aware of fraudulent papers' are baseless as no solid evidence has been presented to date," the announcement declared.

The governing body will present an official appeal of the international body's decision, using original documents that have been verified by the national authorities.

Southeast Asian Context and Political Responses

Southeast Asian countries have lately pursued hiring campaigns for naturalised players, modelled after the Indonesian approach of bringing in born in the Netherlands players from the overseas community.

The country's sports minister, Hannah Yeoh, stated in a statement that "the football association must finish the appeal process and that they should not stay quiet but must respond clearly to every disclosure from FIFA."

"Supporters are angry, hurt and let down," she added.

Current Status and Forthcoming Matches

Despite uncertainty surrounding the squad's composition, Malaysia is now ranked one hundred twenty-third in FIFA's AFC ranking and is scheduled to play in Asian Cup qualifiers this month, meeting the Laotian team on Thursday.