10/10/2025
FIFA accused Malaysia on faking player eligibility
ABC Asia has reported that FIFA has accused Malaysia’s football association of cheating, claiming they falsified citizenship documents for seven foreign-born players so they could play for the national team.
Players representing a country neither they, nor their parents, were born is nothing new.
FIFA's "grandfather rule" allows foreign-born footballers to represent countries where their biological parents or grandparents were born. The rules also allow naturalised players to represent the country of their choice.
For instance, Indonesia’s national team relies heavily on Dutch-born players. And Australia has featured dozens of foreign-born players over the decades.
But what FIFA says the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) did was outright “cheating” and “cannot in any way be condoned”.
It says FAM forged birth certificates to make it look like the players' grandparents were born in Malaysia.
FIFA suspended the players - from Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands - who all featured in June’s 4-0 win over Vietnam, for 12 months and fined FAM $US438,000.
FAM said the discrepancies were an "administrative error" and that it would appeal.
Hannah Yeoh, Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister, said: “Fans are angry, hurt and disappointed.”
Despite not having the seven players, Malaysia beat Laos 3-0 in its latest Asian Cup qualifier on Thursday night.
