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The Malaysian Football Association (Malaysia's football governing body) has announced it will appeal FIFA's decision to sanction the organization for supposedly forging the citizenship documents of seven foreign-born players, who have now been suspended from playing for the national team for one year.

The Global Football Body's Claims and Fines

In the ninth month, FIFA imposed a fine of $438,000 on the Malaysian association and suspended the footballers after discovering that their grandparents were not born in Malaysia as claimed, but instead in the South American nation, Brazil, the European country and the Iberian nation. The international football authority reiterated its assertions about doctored documentation in a disciplinary committee report released on Monday.

Each of the players – who all participated in Malaysia's 4-0 win over the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this summer – was also penalized twenty-five hundred dollars.

The implicated individuals includes born in Spain Arrocha, Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, born in Argentina Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Holland, and Figueiredo who was hails from the South American country.

FIFA's Position on Document Falsification

"Document falsification constitutes, pure and simple, a type of cheating," stated FIFA in its findings.

"The act of forgery strikes at the very core of the fundamental principles of football, not only those governing a player’s eligibility to represent a national team, but also the essential values of a fair game and the principle of sportsmanship," added a senior official, deputy chairperson of FIFA's ethics panel.

FAM's Reply and Challenge Strategy

The international body's document claims that the Malaysian association admitted it "was contacted by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and failed to independently verify the validity of the documentation."

"The original birth certificates showed a sharp contrast to the submitted papers," it said.

FIFA also said it was "managed to acquire the relevant original documents easily," which revealed a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.

The Football Association of Malaysia reacted to FIFA's report in a statement on Tuesday, asserting the inconsistencies were the outcome of an "administrative error" and the players are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."

"Claims that the athletes 'acquired or were aware of fake documents' are unfounded as no concrete proof has been presented to date," the announcement said.

The association will submit an official appeal of the international body's decision, using original documents that have been certified by the Malaysian government.

Southeast Asian Context and Political Reactions

Southeast Asian nations have recently pursued recruitment drives for foreign-born athletes, modelled after Indonesia's strategy of bringing in born in the Netherlands players from the overseas community.

The country's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, said in a release that "the football association needs to complete the appeal process and that they cannot remain silent but must respond clearly to all revelations from the global authority."

"Fans are angry, hurt and disappointed," she remarked.

Present Situation and Upcoming Games

Regardless of doubt surrounding the national team's composition, Malaysia is now ranked 123rd in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to compete in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup in the coming weeks, meeting the Laotian team on the upcoming Thursday.