GENEVA (AP) 鈥� The Malaysian Football Association lost its appeal on Thursday against a by using false documents to naturalize foreign-born players for the men鈥檚 national team.
The its judges confirmed a 350,000 Swiss francs ($450,000) fine for the FA and one-year bans for the seven players 鈥済iven their complicit responsibility in this fraud.鈥�
The players were given Malaysian passports and selected for the team鈥檚 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.
鈥淭he 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,鈥� 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 鈥渋nstitutional shortcomings,鈥� the court said, 鈥渁nd did not dispute that it may bear responsibility in violating鈥� FIFA disciplinary rules.
鈥淚t also stated that the players had a limited role in providing documents requested by (the federation) and did not prepare, nor alter them,鈥� CAS said.
The faked recruits
The banned players were Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Jon Iraz谩bal Iraurgui, Facundo Tom谩s Garc茅s, Rodrigo Juli谩n Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Jo茫o Vitor Brand茫o Figueiredo and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano.
They were chosen to help a Malaysia team 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鈥檚 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 鈥� often involving players from Brazil 鈥� seeking to exploit some foreign-born players to change their eligibility.
from the 2023 Asian Cup for selecting players with fake birth certificates in World Cup qualifying games. were caught in qualifying games for tournaments including the 2012 London Olympics and men鈥檚 2014 World Cup.
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