CAS grants stay on FIFA ban for seven naturalised footballers of Malaysia national team

KUALA LUMPUR – Seven naturalised players in Malaysia’s national football team have obtained a temporary reprieve from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), halting their 12-month suspension from all football-related activities, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said on Jan 27.

FIFA, football’s world governing body, suspended the seven naturalised players for 12 months and fined FAM 350,000 Swiss francs (S$575,000)

in September after finding that doctored documentation had been used to allow the players to participate in a June 10 Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam.

The FAM then took the case to CAS after

FIFA dismissed its appeal

. FIFA said it would launch a formal probe into the association’s internal operations and would notify authorities in five countries of potential criminal proceedings.

The players who were granted the reprieve were Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Gabriel Palmero, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel.

“This decision means that the 12-month suspension from all football activities imposed by FIFA on the seven players is temporarily suspended, and they are allowed to continue their careers and participate in any football-related activities until a final decision on the appeal at CAS is made,” the FAM said on its Facebook account.

However, Malaysia’s The Star newspaper reported that sports lawyer Nik Erman Nik Roseli has clarified that the stay of execution granted by CAS should not be read as an indication of the likelihood of the appeal’s success.

“This is only a temporary relief for the players. The suspension has not been dismissed or set aside,” he said.

“If the appeal is dismissed, the suspension will be enforced. This is also not an indication that the appeal will be successful. While it is good news for the players to be able to resume their playing career, it does not in any way mean that FAM and the players are cleared of any wrongdoing.

“The finding of fault still stands, the suspension and penalty stands, just temporarily stayed.”

Following the document forgery scandal,

FIFA overturned the results of three matches involving Malaysia

after ruling that they had fielded these ineligible players.

The scandal drew criticism in Malaysia, with fans and several lawmakers calling for action to be taken against the FAM as well as the government agencies responsible for granting citizenship to the players.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had vowed transparency in domestic investigations into the alleged forgery, but stressed that FAM should be allowed to defend itself. REUTERS,

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK