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The Malaysian Football Association (FAM) has announced it will contest FIFA's decision to sanction the organization for supposedly forging the citizenship documents of seven overseas-born players, who have now been banned from playing for the country for 12 months.

The Global Football Body's Claims and Fines

In September, FIFA imposed a penalty of over four hundred thousand dollars on FAM and banned the footballers after discovering that their grandparents were not Malaysian by birth as stated, but instead in Argentina, the Brazilian nation, the European country and Spain. The global football authority reiterated its assertions about falsified papers in a official investigation report released on Monday.

Each of the individuals – 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 accused individuals includes Spanish-born Arrocha, Garces and Iraurgui, born in Argentina Holgado and Machuca, as well as Serrano who was originated in the Holland, and Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo who was hails from Brazil.

The Governing Body's Position on Document Falsification

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

"Forging documents undermines the heart of the fundamental principles of football, not only those governing a athlete's qualification to play for a national team, but also the essential values of a fair game and the principle of sportsmanship," commented Jorge Palacio, 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 "was contacted by external agencies regarding the athletes' ancestry and failed to independently verify the validity of the papers."

"The original birth certificates showed a stark difference to the documentation provided," it said.

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

The Football Association of Malaysia reacted to the global body's report in a statement on the following day, asserting the inconsistencies were the result of an "procedural mistake" and the players are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."

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

The association will present an official appeal of FIFA's decision, using authentic papers that have been verified by the national authorities.

Regional Context and Official Responses

South-east Asian nations have lately pursued recruitment drives for naturalised players, inspired by the Indonesian approach of recruiting born in the Netherlands players from the Indonesian diaspora.

The country's minister for sports, the official, stated in a statement that "the football association needs to complete the appeal process and that they should not stay quiet but have to answer plainly to all revelations from the global authority."

"Fans are upset, disappointed and disappointed," she remarked.

Present Status and Forthcoming Matches

Regardless of doubt regarding the national team's composition, Malaysia is now placed one hundred twenty-third in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is set to compete in Asian Cup qualifiers this month, meeting the Laotian team on the upcoming Thursday.