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The Malaysian Football Association (FAM) has declared it will contest FIFA's ruling to penalize the organization for supposedly falsifying the citizenship documents of multiple foreign-born players, who have now been banned from representing the national team for 12 months.

The Global Football Body's Allegations and Fines

In September, FIFA levied a penalty of over four hundred thousand dollars on the Malaysian association and suspended the players after finding 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 global football governing body restated its assertions about falsified papers in a disciplinary committee report released on the start of the week.

Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil victory over the Vietnamese team in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this June – was also fined $2,500.

The accused individuals includes born in Spain Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Iraurgui, born in Argentina Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Serrano who was born in the Holland, and Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo who was hails from Brazil.

FIFA's Stance on Document Falsification

"Document falsification represents, pure and simple, a form of dishonesty," said FIFA in its findings.

"Forging documents undermines the very core of the fundamental principles of the sport, not only those regulating a player’s eligibility to represent a country's squad, but also the core ethics of a fair game and the principle of fair play," added a senior official, vice-chair of FIFA's ethics panel.

The Association's Response and Appeal Plan

FIFA's document claims that FAM admitted it "was contacted by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and failed to personally confirm the authenticity of the documentation."

"Initial documentation showed a sharp contrast to the documentation provided," it said.

The organization also said it was "able to obtain 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 the following day, asserting the inconsistencies were the outcome of an "administrative error" and the players are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."

"Claims that the athletes 'acquired or were knowledgeable of fake documents' are baseless as no solid evidence has been provided to date," the statement declared.

The association will present an formal challenge of FIFA's ruling, using original documents that have been verified by the Malaysian government.

Regional Background and Political Responses

South-east Asian countries have lately engaged in hiring campaigns for foreign-born athletes, inspired by Indonesia's strategy of bringing in born in the Netherlands footballers from the overseas community.

Malaysia's sports minister, Hannah Yeoh, stated in a release that "FAM needs to finish the appeal process and that they should not stay quiet but must respond clearly to every disclosure from FIFA."

"Fans are angry, hurt and let down," she remarked.

Current Situation and Upcoming Matches

Despite doubt surrounding the squad's composition, the team is now ranked one hundred twenty-third in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is set to play in Asian Cup qualifiers in the coming weeks, meeting Laos on Thursday.