“Forgery case”… Malaysia resorts to CAS to appeal the decision to suspend 7 of the national team’s players

The Malaysian Football Association intends to resort to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to appeal the decision of the International Federation (FIFA) to suspend seven national team players, despite an open official investigation into the case of forging documents related to their place of birth and eligibility.
In September, FIFA decided to ban seven international players born outside Malaysia for a year and impose a fine of $440,000 on the Malaysian Football Association.
FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee published a 19-page report outlining the findings of the investigation, stating that the documents submitted by the Malaysian Federation showed that they were forged or altered “as they were manipulated to change the place of birth listed on them.”
The Malaysian Federation insisted that it acted in good faith, claiming that the error was “technical”, before announcing on Tuesday its intention to appeal the decision of the highest football authority before the “CAS”, in the words of its acting representative, Yusuf Mahadi, who said, “The Malaysian Football Association will begin the procedures for referring this case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
“This step is being taken to ensure justice and defend the integrity of the player eligibility process established by the Malaysian government and relevant bodies,” he added in a statement.
The Malaysian Federation’s announcement also comes after the FIFA Appeals Committee issued a damning report on Monday explaining its decision to reject the Malaysian Federation’s appeal against the suspensions and fine.
FIFA announced the ban on September 27 after a complaint related to the seven players, all of whom participated in Malaysia’s 4-0 win over Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers in June, and two of whom were able to score.
FIFA rules allow footballers born abroad to represent countries if their parents or grandparents were born there.
But the FIFA Disciplinary Committee stated that it had obtained original birth certificates showing that the grandparents were born in Argentina, Brazil, the Netherlands and Spain, considering that “submitting false documents for the purpose of obtaining eligibility to play for a national team is, quite simply, a form of fraud that cannot be tolerated.”
The Malaysian Federation denied any deliberate violations, and appealed the decision in October, before its Secretary-General was suspended from work, confirming that it would form an independent committee to investigate.
But FIFA’s appeals committee accused him on Monday of “not taking any concrete disciplinary measures, no actual suspensions, no dismissals, or referrals to local authorities,” adding, “This omission indicates a lack of accountability, and raises serious concerns about the culture of governance within the organization.”
“Accordingly, the FIFA Appeal Committee has instructed the General Secretariat to take immediate steps to initiate a formal investigation into the internal operations of the Football Association of Malaysia,” it continued.