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The Malaysian Football Association (FAM) has declared it will contest FIFA's decision to sanction the organization for allegedly falsifying the nationality papers of seven overseas-born players, who have now been suspended from playing for the national team for 12 months.

The Global Football Body's Claims and Fines

In the ninth month, FIFA levied a fine of $438,000 on the Malaysian association and banned the players after discovering that their grandparents were not born in Malaysia as claimed, but rather in the South American nation, the Brazilian nation, the Netherlands and the Iberian nation. The global football authority reiterated its claims about falsified papers in a official investigation report published on the start of the week.

Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil win over Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this June – was also penalized twenty-five hundred dollars.

The implicated group includes Spanish-born Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Holgado and Machuca, as well as Serrano who was born in the Holland, and Figueiredo who was born Brazil.

The Governing Body's Position on Forgery

"Forgery represents, plain and simple, a type of cheating," stated FIFA in its findings.

"Forging documents strikes at the very core of the basic tenets of football, not only those governing a player’s eligibility to play for a national team, but also the essential values of a clean sport and the principle of fair play," added a senior official, vice-chair of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

FAM's Reply and Challenge Strategy

The international body's report states that the Malaysian association admitted it "was contacted by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and failed to independently verify the authenticity of the papers."

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

FIFA also mentioned it was "able to obtain the authentic papers easily," which highlighted a "lack of proper diligence" by FAM.

FAM responded to the global body's allegations in a official communication on Tuesday, asserting the inconsistencies were the outcome of an "administrative error" and the individuals are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."

"Allegations that players 'acquired or were aware of fake documents' are baseless as no concrete proof has been presented to date," the announcement declared.

The governing body will present an formal challenge of FIFA's ruling, using authentic papers that have been verified by the Malaysian government.

Southeast Asian Context and Political Reactions

Southeast Asian countries have lately engaged in hiring campaigns for foreign-born athletes, inspired by the Indonesian approach of recruiting born in the Netherlands players from the Indonesian diaspora.

Malaysia's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, said in a release that "the football association needs to complete the challenge procedure and that they should not stay quiet but have to answer plainly to all revelations from the global authority."

"Supporters are upset, hurt and let down," she remarked.

Present Situation and Forthcoming Games

Despite uncertainty surrounding the squad's lineup, the team is now placed one hundred twenty-third in FIFA's AFC ranking and is scheduled to compete in Asian Cup qualifiers in the coming weeks, facing the Laotian team on Thursday.