Malaysia fans fear Asian Cup blow as Fifa probe casts doubt on naturalised players

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian football fans are fuming: The country is facing its biggest debacle in the sport in years, just one week before its national team plays Laos in a pivotal qualifier for the AFC Asian Cup.

On Sept 26, seven naturalised players from the team

were suspended by Fifa

, football’s governing body, over the use of allegedly fake documents that showed their ties to Malaysia. The players were born in Spain, the Netherlands, Argentina and Brazil.

Besides fines for the players and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), the country may also have to forfeit its 4-0 win in the qualifying round against Vietnam on June 10.

As the country seeks more players worldwide with Malaysian ancestry in its bid for regional dominance, the incident has raised questions among football fans over the process and what it means for the national team’s identity.

“Of course I am disappointed. I hope FAM can be more careful in handling the naturalised players, a sensitive issue,” said Mr Oun Hong Liang, 35, a long-time supporter of the national team, which is nicknamed Harimau Malaya, or Malayan Tigers.

The current mood is a stark contrast to the celebrations following Malaysia’s thrashing of three-time Asean champions Vietnam during the Asian Cup qualifiers. The win was the first against Vietnam in a decade.

Fifa has claimed that complaints were lodged against Malaysia for allegedly using “doctored documentation” to select the seven players in its squad in the Vietnam match. Four of the seven started the match.

The seven are: Spain-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui; Netherlands-born Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano; Argentina-born Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca; and Brazil-born Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo.

As punishment, FAM was fined 350,000 Swiss francs (S$565,000), while each of the seven players was fined 2,000 Swiss francs and banned from all football-related activities for 12 months.

FAM secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman on Sept 28 vowed to appeal the sanction.

FAM acting president Yusoff Mahadi added on Oct 1 that the structure of the appeal could only be determined after receiving Fifa’s detailed judgment.

Under Fifa rules, a naturalised player must not only hold a valid national passport, but also meet eligibility criteria. These include having a biological parent or a grandparent born in the country, or having lived there continuously for at least five years after the age of 10.

Such rules are to prevent the abusive practice of “nationality shopping”, where a football association seeks players who have been overlooked in their home countries by offering them a financial incentive and new citizenship.

While the Malaysian national team has featured naturalised players before, FAM in July 2018 set out to recruit naturalised or “heritage players” to improve the national team’s performance, following the nod by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

In March that year, Malaysia was ranked No. 178 in the world out of 221 countries – its lowest position since 1992. It has since rebounded to No. 123, as at September.

Between 2018 and now, the national team has included several naturalised players who are popular among fans. Among them are Belgium-raised captain Dion Cools, UK-born La’Vere Corbin-Ong and Stuart Wilkin, Australia-born Matthew Davies, US-born Wan Kuzain and Finland-born Nooa Laine. All of them have at least one Malaysian parent.

Other national team players were naturalised after a long career in the local league, such as Gambia-born Mohamadou Sumareh, Brazil-born Paulo Josue and Argentina-born Ezequiel Aguero.

There is no limit on the number of naturalised players in a national team that can be on the pitch at any one time.

Fans told The Straits Times that they have no issue with naturalised players starring in the national team.

Mr Sham Khalid, 47, who has been supporting Harimau Malaya for over 30 years, said: “It’s not the first time we have had heritage players. Romel Morales from Colombia played for us in the 2023 Asian Cup, the leading competition on the continent. He even scored against South Korea.”

But fans are concerned over the allegations of the country using forged documents for naturalisation, as well as the possible neglect of home-grown talent in favour of a more “express” approach.

Mr Oun, who writes a sports column for China Press, a local Chinese language newspaper, said: “I hope it’s just a temporary measure while we develop our young talent for the national team. We can’t always rely on foreign-born players.”

To spur the development of Malaysia-born players, the Malaysian Football League had in July 2025 reduced the quota for foreign players in local clubs participating in the Malaysia Super League – to six from the previous seven.

The question on Mr Sham’s mind is how Malaysia could have verified the ancestry of the seven suspended players without proper birth records. All seven claim to have Malaysian grandparents.

At least two of them – Garces and Holgado – received their citizenship just days before the Vietnam match. FAM also announced only on the match day that the duo, along with Machuca, Irazabal and Figueiredo, had received clearance from Fifa to play.

In the aftermath of the Fifa suspension, Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim – owner of the country’s most successful football club, Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) – on Sept 27 posted a copy of an alleged witness statement by the National Registration Department (NRD). Three of the seven suspended players play for JDT.

The letter by the NRD director-general stated that it was unable to retrieve the “original handwritten birth record from the historical archives” of the players’ grandparents. Instead, the NRD issued an official copy based on supporting evidence that a birth certificate had once existed.

Mr Sham said: “We’re unable to provide birth records as evidence to establish the players’ linkage to their grandparents. How would Fifa see it? They’ll think it’s a fake document.”

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail insisted on Sept 30 that the naturalisation process is in order. Meanwhile, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil suggested that “some parties are envious and worried” about the rise of Harimau Malaya, a sentiment shared by Tunku Ismail.

FAM has attributed the incident to a “technical error” by administrative staff who submitted the documents for the seven players.

Even with the assurances from officials, Mr Sham is worried about Harimau Malaya’s future in the Asian Cup qualifiers should the appeal fail. He recalled how Timor-Leste was booted from the 2023 AFC Asian Cup following a similar document forgery case involving Brazil-born footballers.

“After Fifa concludes the appeal and if it decides to uphold the penalty, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) may impose additional sanctions, just like in Timor-Leste’s case,” Mr Sham said.