FIFA to probe ‘internal operations’ of Malaysia FA in twist to foreign-born footballers forgery saga
Investigation aims to identify persons responsible for the falsification of documents, says FIFA’s appeal committee. Malaysia Football Association’s failure to do so is “deeply troubling”, it adds.
Malaysia's Holgado (centre) scores a goal during the AFC Asian Cup qualifier Group F football match between Malaysia and Vietnam at the National Stadium Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur on Jun 10, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Mohd Rasfan)
KUALA LUMPUR: World football governing body FIFA will launch a formal investigation into the internal operations of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), in a bid to identify those responsible for the falsification of documents that enabled seven foreign-born players to play for the national team.
The FAM’s failure to identify those responsible for the tampering of documents was “deeply troubling” and “raises serious concerns about the governance culture within the organisation”, FIFA’s appeal committee said in its written decision released on Tuesday (Nov 18).
“The FAM has not taken any discernible disciplinary action — no concrete suspensions, no dismissals, no referrals to domestic authorities,” it wrote.
“The continued shielding of confessed culpable staff members, coupled with vague assertions of administrative error, appears to be a tactical manoeuvre designed to deflect institutional responsibility while preserving internal cohesion.”
FIFA had on Nov 3 dismissed FAM’s appeal against sanctions imposed in September on the association and the seven players. It had fined the FAM 350,000 Swiss francs (RM1.85 million or US$438,960), and fined the players 2,000 Swiss francs each and suspended them from all football-related activities for a year.
FAM, which had requested for FIFA to release the full details of the appeal decision, will now take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), said FAM acting president Mohd Yusoff Mahadi on Tuesday.
The CAS is an independent body based in Lausanne, Switzerland that helps to facilitate the settlement of sports-related disputes through arbitration or mediation.
In its 63-page decision, FIFA’s Appeal Committee said it has directed its secretariat to take immediate steps to launch the formal probe, which will also assess the adequacy and effectiveness of FAM’s internal compliance and governance mechanisms, and determine whether additional disciplinary measures are warranted against FAM officials.
“As an initial focus, the investigation must examine the role of the FAM secretary-general and that of two licensed FIFA agents named in these proceedings: Mr Nicolas Puppo and Mr Frederico Moraes,” wrote the FIFA appeal committee.
“Their involvement raises serious concerns that merit thorough scrutiny.”
FIFA slammed FAM’s suspension of its secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman in October amid the controversy, calling the move “primarily a public relations exercise” as Noor Azman continued to appear at high-profile events.
For instance, he appeared at an event last month attended by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who visited Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit.
The Appeal Committee also instructed its secretariat to open a separate probe into the fielding of several of the sanctioned players in three friendly matches played in May and September against Cape Verde, Singapore and Palestine. The inquiry seeks to establish the circumstances under which they participated, and whether further sanctions are appropriate.
FIFA’s secretariat has also been instructed to notify the competent criminal authorities in Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands and Spain – where the seven players were born – as well as Malaysia so that “appropriate criminal investigations and proceedings may be pursued”. This is given the nature and gravity of forgery of official documents and other offences, the committee said.
The seven players involved are: Argentina-born Facundo Tomas Garces, 26, Rodrigo Julian Holgado, 30, and Imanol Javier Machuca, 25; Spain-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, 23, and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, 28; Dutch-born Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano, 29, and Brazil-born Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo, 29.
According to FIFA, the FAM and players used forged or falsified birth certificates of the players’ grandparents to secure their eligibility to play for the national team.
Based on copies of their birth certificates FAM submitted to FIFA, the grandparents were stated to have been born in places such as Penang, Melaka, Johor and Sarawak in Malaysia.
The seven footballers, who were given Malaysian passports in March and June this year, played in Malaysia’s 4-0 victory against Vietnam in an AFC Asian Cup qualifier on Jun 10, with two of them each scoring a goal.
“RECKLESSNESS BEYOND REPAIR”
FIFA’s Appeal Committee, which deemed the players’ conduct in the saga “recklessness beyond repair”, also revealed details for the first time on their actions in connection to the forgery.
The players said they were contacted in early 2025 by representatives of the FAM via their agents. The players were informed they were eligible to become Malaysian nationals based on ancestral ties, and the players expressed interest in playing for the FAM.
The players did not identify who from the FAM contacted their agents or friends.
Between January and May this year, they sent birth certificates of their grandparents via WhatsApp and in person to the agents or intermediaries in contact with the FAM.
They argued that any manipulation of the documents happened after they were handed over to the FAM, and was “without their knowledge or involvement”.
For six of the players who sent the documents via WhatsApp, none of the grandparents’ birth certificates listed Malaysia as their place of birth, FIFA’s appeal committee noted. Only Arrocha had handed over the documents in person to his agent and did not produce a copy of the documentation for the appeal proceedings.
The players said they did not read any of the application documents submitted to the Malaysian government, “including the part which concerned the declaration that they had lived for 10 years in Malaysia”, the committee noted.
Their lawyers explained that the documentation was only in “Malaysian language” and that the players’ Malaysian nationality had not been granted on account of residence.
The Appeal Committee rejected the narrative that they were “passive victims of an orchestrated scheme”.
“A reasonable professional player would have questioned how they could represent a country with which they had no genuine connection … The (Appeal) Committee finds that the idea they could play for Malaysia without asking a single question defies logic and professional responsibility,” it said.
It noted that most of the players had said at the hearing that their grandparents were Malaysia-born despite evidence to the contrary. Arrocha, however, had to correct himself: “My grandfather was born in Venezuela and my grandmother in Spain… I mean Malaysia, sorry.”
The players are seasoned professionals with international careers, and not minor parties unfamiliar with contractual obligations, the committee added.
“Their conduct — signing without reading, failing to verify, and blatantly ignoring their responsibility for processes that affected their careers to a significant degree — falls far below the standard of care expected in international football and amounts to a situation of recklessness beyond repair,” it said.
As to FAM’s assertion that the players were “lawfully naturalised” by Malaysian authorities, the committee said under FIFA’s eligibility rules, holding nationality alone is insufficient where nationality was acquired through naturalisation or acquisition.
In such cases, the player must also meet one of the conditions: Being born in the territory, having a parent or grandparent born there, or having resided there for a defined period. The fraudulent documents, thus, come into play as the players are not eligible to play for Malaysia in natural conditions, the committee said.
The offences in this case “strike at the very foundation of football’s integrity” and “cannot, under any circumstances, be tolerated”, it added.
