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The Football Association of Malaysia (Malaysia's football governing body) has declared it will contest FIFA's ruling to penalize the body for allegedly forging the citizenship documents of multiple foreign-born players, who have now been suspended from playing for the country for 12 months.

FIFA's Allegations and Penalties

In September, FIFA levied a fine of over four hundred thousand dollars on FAM and banned the footballers after discovering that their ancestors were not Malaysian by birth as claimed, but instead in the South American nation, Brazil, the Netherlands and Spain. The global football governing body restated its assertions about falsified papers in a disciplinary committee report published on the start of the week.

Each of the players – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil victory over the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this June – was also fined $2,500.

The implicated individuals includes Spanish-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Holland, and Figueiredo who was born Brazil.

FIFA's Stance on Forgery

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

"The act of forgery undermines the very core of the fundamental principles of football, not only those regulating a player’s eligibility to represent a country's squad, but also the essential values of a fair game and the concept of sportsmanship," commented a senior official, deputy chairperson of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

FAM's Reply and Challenge Strategy

FIFA's report claims that FAM admitted it "was contacted by third parties regarding the players’ heritage and did not attempt to personally confirm the validity of the documentation."

"The original birth certificates indicated a sharp contrast to the submitted papers," it noted.

The organization also said it was "managed to acquire the relevant original documents easily," which revealed a "failure in due diligence" by the Malaysian body.

FAM responded to the global body's report in a official communication on the following day, maintaining the inconsistencies were the outcome of an "procedural mistake" and the players are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."

"Allegations that players 'obtained or were knowledgeable of fraudulent papers' are unfounded as no solid evidence has been provided so far," the statement declared.

The association will submit an formal challenge of FIFA's decision, using original documents that have been certified by the national authorities.

Southeast Asian Background and Political Reactions

South-east Asian countries have recently engaged in recruitment drives for naturalised players, modelled after the Indonesian approach of bringing in born in the Netherlands footballers from the Indonesian diaspora.

The country's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, stated in a release that "FAM needs to complete the challenge procedure and that they should not stay quiet but must respond clearly to every disclosure made by the global authority."

"Supporters are angry, hurt and let down," she added.

Current Situation and Upcoming Games

Despite uncertainty surrounding the national team's composition, Malaysia is now ranked one hundred twenty-third in FIFA's AFC ranking and is scheduled to play in Asian Cup qualifiers this month, facing Laos on the upcoming Thursday.