KUALA LUMPUR – Football authority Fifa has released its grounds into
the suspension of seven foreign-born Malaysian footballers
on Oct 6, exposing significant discrepancies in the documents submitted by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
In the letter addressed to FAM and the seven naturalised players seen by The Straits Times, Fifa said it found that the grandparents of the players in question had been born in Spain, Argentina, Brazil and the Netherlands, and not in Malaysia.
This revelation further complicates Malaysia’s aim to qualify for the Asian Cup tournament ahead of its away match with Laos on Oct 9, with the seven players not to be named in the squad due to the suspension.
FAM has in response said that it would continue appealing the punishment.
“The Committee wished to highlight that it concurred with the conclusion of the Investigatory Reports, specifically, that the original birth certificates indicated a sharp contrast to the documentation provided,” said the decision by Mr Jorge Palacio, deputy chairman of the Fifa Disciplinary Committee.
The seven players in question are: Spain-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui; Netherlands-born Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano; Argentina-born Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca; and Brazil-born Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo.
Fifa had on Sept 26 fined FAM 350,000 Swiss francs (S$565,000), while each of the seven players was fined 2,000 Swiss francs and banned...
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