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The Football Association of Malaysia (Malaysia's football governing body) has declared it will appeal FIFA's decision to penalize the organization for allegedly forging the citizenship documents of multiple overseas-born players, who have now been banned from playing for the national team for one year.

FIFA's Allegations and Penalties

In September, FIFA imposed a fine of over four hundred thousand dollars on the Malaysian association and banned the footballers after finding that their grandparents were not born in Malaysia as stated, but instead in the South American nation, Brazil, the Netherlands and the Iberian nation. The global football governing body restated its claims about doctored papers in a disciplinary committee report published on Monday.

Each of the players – who all participated in Malaysia's 4-0 win over the Vietnamese team in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this June – was also penalized $2,500.

The implicated individuals includes born in Spain Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Iraurgui, born in Argentina Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Figueiredo who was born the South American country.

The Governing Body's Position on Forgery

"Document falsification constitutes, plain and simple, a form of dishonesty," stated FIFA in its report.

"The act of forgery strikes at the heart of the basic tenets of football, not only those regulating a athlete's qualification to play for a country's squad, but also the core ethics of a fair game and the concept of fair play," added a senior official, vice-chair of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

The Association's Response and Appeal Plan

FIFA's document claims that FAM conceded it "received inquiries by external agencies regarding the athletes' ancestry and failed to personally confirm the validity of the documentation."

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

The organization also mentioned it was "managed to acquire the authentic papers easily," which revealed a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.

The Football Association of Malaysia responded to the global body's report in a statement on the following day, asserting the discrepancies were the outcome of an "procedural mistake" and the individuals are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."

"Allegations that players 'acquired or were aware of fake documents' are unfounded as no solid evidence has been presented so far," the statement declared.

The governing body will submit an official appeal of FIFA's ruling, using original documents that have been certified by the national authorities.

Southeast Asian Context and Political Responses

South-east Asian nations have lately engaged in hiring campaigns for naturalised players, inspired by Indonesia's strategy of recruiting Dutch-born players from the Indonesian diaspora.

The country's minister for sports, the official, said in a statement that "the football association needs to finish the challenge procedure and that they should not stay quiet but must respond clearly to all revelations made by the global authority."

"Supporters are upset, hurt and disappointed," she added.

Present Status and Forthcoming Games

Despite uncertainty surrounding the national team's lineup, Malaysia is now ranked 123rd in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to play in Asian Cup qualifiers in the coming weeks, facing the Laotian team on Thursday.