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The Football Association of Malaysia (Malaysia's football governing body) has declared it will appeal FIFA's ruling to sanction the organization for allegedly forging the nationality papers of multiple foreign-born players, who have now been banned from representing the country for one year.

The Global Football Body's Allegations and Penalties

In the ninth month, FIFA imposed a fine of $438,000 on the Malaysian association and banned the footballers after discovering that their grandparents were not Malaysian by birth as stated, but instead in Argentina, the Brazilian nation, the Netherlands and Spain. The international football authority restated its claims about falsified documentation 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 victory over the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this June – was also penalized twenty-five hundred dollars.

The implicated individuals includes born in Spain Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Garces and Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Holgado and Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Holland, and Figueiredo who was born the South American country.

The Governing Body's Position on Forgery

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

"Forging documents undermines the very core of the fundamental principles 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.

FAM's Response and Challenge Strategy

The international body's document states that the Malaysian association admitted it "received inquiries by third parties regarding the players’ heritage and did not attempt to personally confirm the authenticity of the papers."

"Initial documentation indicated a sharp contrast to the submitted papers," it noted.

FIFA also mentioned it was "managed to acquire the authentic papers easily," which revealed a "lack of proper diligence" by FAM.

The Football Association of Malaysia responded to the global body's report in a official communication on the following day, maintaining the inconsistencies were the outcome of an "procedural mistake" and the individuals are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."

"Claims that the athletes 'acquired or were knowledgeable of fraudulent papers' are unfounded as no concrete proof has been provided so far," the announcement said.

The association will present an formal challenge of the international body's decision, using authentic papers that have been verified by the national authorities.

Regional Background and Official Responses

South-east Asian countries have recently engaged in hiring campaigns for naturalised players, modelled after the Indonesian approach of bringing in born in the Netherlands footballers from the overseas community.

The country's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, said in a release that "FAM must complete the appeal process and that they should not stay quiet but have to answer plainly to all revelations made by FIFA."

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

Present Situation and Upcoming Matches

Despite doubt regarding the national team's composition, 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.