Football 

Seven players with fake documents playing for Malaysian national football team during the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. — Photo vff.org.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Thursday denied an appeal by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) against a ruling by FIFA that it had violated regulations by using false documents to naturalise foreign-born players for the men’s national team. 

The decision strongly affects not only Malaysian but also Vietnamese results in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. These players were given Malaysian passports and selected for the team’s 4-0 win over Việt Nam last June.

On September 25, 2025, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee imposed sanctions on FAM and seven players – Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomás Garcés, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, João Vitor Brandão Figueiredo, Jon Irazábal Iraurgui, and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano – for breaches of Article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code concerning forgery and falsification.

FAM was fined 350,000 Swiss francs (US$450,000) to FIFA. Players were asked to pay a fine of 2,000 Swiss francs and sanctioned with a 12-month suspension from all football-related activities.

After the FIFA Appeals Committee upheld the decision on November 3, 2025, FAM and the players filed consolidated appeals with CAS on December 5.

After months of working, CAS confirmed the fine for FAM and one-year bans for the players but eased the punishments imposed by FIFA, ruling that the players may train and take part in football-related activities outside official matches until their bans expire.

“The CAS panel found that the infraction of falsifying eligibility documents was established and that the 12-month ban from playing matches was a reasonable and proportionate sanction for the players,” the court said.

The fine was reduced because FAM acknowledged the existence of "institutional shortcomings" and stated that the players had a limited role in providing documents requested by (the federation) and did not prepare, nor alter them.

The court added that this decision is provisional and does not yet include the full, legally binding grounds, which will be published at a suitable time.

Previously, FIFA had ruled that Malaysia must forfeit three friendly matches, against Cape Verde, Singapore, and Palestine, with 0-3 losses due to the fielding of these ineligible players.

The qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup fall under the authority of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which had been awaiting the final ruling from CAS. AFC will now make the final decision on any sanction before the qualifiers' final matches later this month.

If the matches are ruled forfeited, Malaysia will lose six points and drop to second place in Group F, while Việt Nam would gain three points to move to the top of the standings and automatically qualify for the finals, regardless of the result of the final match.

Việt Nam will host Malaysia on March 31 at Thiên Trường Stadium, Ninh Bình Province. — VNS