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The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has declared it will contest FIFA's decision to penalize the body for allegedly falsifying the citizenship documents of multiple foreign-born players, who have now been suspended from representing the country for one year.

The Global Football Body's Allegations and Fines

In September, FIFA levied a fine of over four hundred thousand dollars on FAM and suspended the footballers after discovering that their grandparents were not born in Malaysia as stated, but rather in the South American nation, Brazil, the Netherlands and Spain. The global football authority reiterated its assertions about falsified papers in a disciplinary committee report published on Monday.

Each of the players – who all took part in Malaysia's 4-0 win over the Vietnamese team in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this summer – was also penalized twenty-five hundred dollars.

The accused group includes born in Spain Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Garces and Iraurgui, born in Argentina Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Figueiredo who was hails from the South American country.

FIFA's Position on Document Falsification

"Document falsification constitutes, pure and simple, a form of cheating," said FIFA in its findings.

"Forging documents undermines the very core of the basic tenets of the sport, not only those regulating a player’s eligibility to represent a country's squad, but also the essential values of a clean sport and the principle of fair play," commented a senior official, deputy chairperson of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

The Association's Reply and Challenge Strategy

FIFA's report states that the Malaysian association conceded it "was contacted by third parties regarding the players’ heritage and did not attempt to independently verify the validity of the papers."

"Initial documentation indicated a stark difference to the documentation provided," it noted.

FIFA also said it was "managed to acquire the authentic papers easily," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.

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

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

The governing body will submit an formal challenge of the international body's ruling, using original documents that have been verified by the national authorities.

Regional Background and Official Responses

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

The country's minister for sports, the official, stated in a statement that "the football association needs to complete the challenge procedure and that they cannot remain silent but must respond clearly to all revelations made by the global authority."

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

Present Status and Forthcoming Matches

Despite uncertainty surrounding the national team's composition, Malaysia is now ranked one hundred twenty-third in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is set to play in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup this month, meeting Laos on the upcoming Thursday.