Malaysia loses appeal against FIFA in fake documents case

GENEVA (AP) — The Malaysian Football Association lost its appeal on Thursday against a FIFA ruling it cheated by using false documents to naturalize foreign-born players for the men’s national team.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judges confirmed a 350,000 Swiss francs ($450,000) fine for the FA and one-year bans for the seven players “given their complicit responsibility in this fraud.”

The players were given Malaysian passports and selected for the team’s 4-0 win over Vietnam last June in a qualifying game for the 2027 Asian Cup. That win should be overturned by the Asian Football Confederation.

“The CAS panel found that the infraction of falsifying eligibility documents was established and that the 12-month ban from playing matches was a reasonable and proportionate sanction for the players,” the court said.

However, the court relaxed the FIFA punishments by ruling the players should be allowed to train and take part in soccer activities outside of games until their bans expire.

The Malaysia FA acknowledged its “institutional shortcomings,” the court said, “and did not dispute that it may bear responsibility in violating” FIFA disciplinary rules.

“It also stated that the players had a limited role in providing documents requested by (the federation) and did not prepare, nor alter them,” CAS said.

The faked recruits

The banned players were Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Jon Irazábal Iraurgui, Facundo Tomás Garcés, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, João Vitor Brandão Figueiredo and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano.

They were chosen to help a Malaysia team currently No. 121 in the FIFA ranking of 211 men’s national teams. Malaysia has never qualified for a World Cup and at the 2023 Asian Cup placed last in its group without a win in three games.

FIFA originally processed applications for the players to change their national eligibility to Malaysia, by accepting documents claiming grandparents of the seven players were born there. That detail, if true, would have complied with FIFA’s nationality rules.

FIFA’s own investigation later showed the family members were born in the same countries as the players: Argentina, Brazil, the Netherlands and Spain.

Soccer’s eligibility problem

It is the latest case of false registrations in international soccer — often involving players from Brazil — seeking to exploit FIFA rules which do allow some foreign-born players to change their eligibility.

East Timor was expelled from the 2023 Asian Cup for selecting players with fake birth certificates in World Cup qualifying games. Equatorial Guinea’s men’s and women’s teams were caught in qualifying games for tournaments including the 2012 London Olympics and men’s 2014 World Cup.

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