Football’s global governing body, FIFA, has accused the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) of fabricating citizenship documents for seven foreign-born players. This accusation stems from an investigation triggered after Malaysia’s 4-0 victory over Vietnam in June, which raised questions about the players’ eligibility to represent the national team.
FIFA’s ‘grandfather rule’ is designed to prevent the rampant ‘importation’ of players solely to enhance national team performance. It allows foreign-born players to represent a country if their biological parents or grandparents were born there. However, FIFA claims that the FAM forged birth certificates to falsely suggest these players’ ancestors were Malaysian.
The FAM has countered FIFA’s claims, attributing the discrepancies to an “administrative error” and asserting that the players are indeed “legitimate Malaysian citizens.” Despite this, FIFA’s disciplinary committee has suspended the seven players for a year and levied a fine of 2,000 Swiss francs ($2,500; £1,870) on each player. The FAM also faces a substantial fine of 350,000 Swiss francs ($440,000; £330,000).
This incident highlights a growing trend in Southeast Asian football, where nations are actively seeking naturalised players, inspired by Indonesia’s success with players of Dutch-Indonesian heritage. The Malaysian government has expressed disappointment, stating that FIFA’s findings could tarnish the country’s image, and is awaiting the FAM’s appeal before making a formal statement.
The Malaysian national team will need to field a different lineup for their upcoming Asian Cup qualifier against Laos, as the suspended players will be unavailable.