Damaging accusations of cheating and forgery are at the heart of a football eligibility scandal in Malaysia which a senior government minister said “tarnishes the country’s image”.
World governing body FIFA last month suspended seven foreign-born Malaysia national team players for a year and fined the FA of Malaysia (FAM) $440,000.
FIFA’s disciplinary committee this week published a damning 19-page report detailing its findings.
It said papers provided by FAM showed that the documents were forged or falsified “in that they were doctored to alter the birthplace listed therein”.
FAM maintains it acted in good faith, saying there had been a “technical error” and that it will appeal.
As the controversy swirled, youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh said the FIFA report contained serious allegations that must be addressed.
“Although FAM has issued a statement saying it was a technical error, a mistake by their staff, all of that needs improvement,” Yeoh told the Bernama national news agency.
“Because the 19-page statement contains very serious remarks by FIFA, which tarnishes the country’s image,” she added.
FIFA announced the ban on September 27 after a complaint about the seven, who all played in Malaysia’s 4-0 Asian Cup qualifying win over Vietnam in June. Two of them scored.
The victory was Malaysia’s first against their Southeast Asian rivals Vietnam in 11 years and was wildly celebrated by a 60,000 crowd in Kuala Lumpur.
The seven — Hector Hevel, Jon Irazabal, Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca and Joao Brandao Figueredo — all claim to have grandparents born in Malaysia.
– ‘A form of cheating’ –
FIFA rules allow foreign-born footballers to represent countries if their biological parents or grandparents were born there.
FIFA’s disciplinary committee, however, reported it had obtained original birth certificates showing the grandparents were born in Argentina, Brazil, the Netherlands or Spain.
“The original birth certificates indicated a sharp contrast to the documentation provided,” the report said.
“The committee underlined that presenting fraudulent documentation with the purpose of gaining eligibility to play for a national team constitutes, pure and simple, a form of cheating that cannot be condoned.
“Based on the evidence on file, the Secretariat is comfortably satisfied to establish that the documents submitted are forged.
“The players have made use of these documents to evade and circumvent the pertinent FIFA regulations in order to be eligible to represent the team of the Football Association of Malaysia,” it said.
FAM has said it takes the matter seriously and carried out all the verifications and checks required.
“Neither the FAM nor the players were ever aware of the circumstance that some of the documents submitted might have been falsified,” it said in the FIFA report.
“FAM categorically denies any involvement in falsification or manipulation of documents,” it added in a statement.
“To suggest that players intentionally circumvented eligibility rules or submitted forged documents is not only inaccurate, but defamatory,” it added.
The body implored FIFA to “close the investigation, declaring the relevant complaint ungrounded”.
Asian football’s governing body said Wednesday it would wait for the outcome of any appeal before deciding on any further action against Malaysia.
The Kuala Lumpur-based Asian Football Confederation could reverse the result of the Malaysia-Vietnam match and impose other sanctions.
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