KUALA LUMPUR — The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will not reopen or duplicate investigations already concluded by FIFA over Malaysia’s player eligibility scandal, but will act firmly if any breaches fall within its jurisdiction.
AFC general secretary Datuk Seri Windsor Paul John told Scoop that the regional body would review FIFA’s case file once received before determining any follow-up action, stressing that the principle of double jeopardy prevents the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) from being punished twice for the same offence.
“We cannot reopen matters already decided by FIFA. Once the FIFA tribunal has ruled, the AFC will act only on issues within its own jurisdiction — for example, competition outcomes or eligibility rulings,” Windsor said when met today.
He explained that while the AFC’s disciplinary framework allows for serious sanctions, including the removal of teams from competitions, such measures would only be considered in extreme circumstances.
“The harshest penalty we can impose is to remove a team from a tournament, as happened with Timor-Leste. But that is a last resort because it deprives an entire generation of players of valuable experience,” he said.
Windsor noted that FAM’s overall record remains clean, with no history of age fraud, gender violations or doping cases — only salary disputes at the club level — which may serve as a mitigating factor.
He added that the AFC’s disciplinary process cannot proceed until FIFA’s motivated decision and full case file are received.
“We’re still waiting for the documents. Once the file arrives, we’ll study its contents. We don’t yet know what FIFA will include,” Windsor said.
He also drew a clear distinction between citizenship and footballing eligibility, noting that the two are governed by separate systems.
“A person can be a Malaysian citizen and still be ineligible to represent the national team. Citizenship is a government matter, but eligibility is determined by football regulations,” he explained.
Windsor said the AFC’s disciplinary committee would determine whether any aspect of the case affects AFC competitions, particularly the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, in which several ineligible players featured.
FAM’s appeal, lodged earlier this month, followed FIFA’s September ruling which fined the national body 350,000 Swiss francs (RM1.85 million) and the seven players — Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Garcés, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, João Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Héctor Hevel — 2,000 Swiss francs each, while banning them for 12 months from all football activities.
FIFA’s disciplinary committee had found discrepancies in the players’ registration documents, ruling that falsified ancestry certificates were used to establish their eligibility for the Malaysian national team.
Malaysia’s position in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers could now be affected, as the seven players featured in the 2-0 win over Nepal on March 25 and the 4-0 victory against Vietnam on June 10.
Malaysia currently sits top of Group F with 12 points from four matches. Only the group champions will qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup.
Windsor said AFC hopes the issue can be resolved before March 31, 2026, to finalise the tournament line-up.
“For the draw, we need to know which team will qualify from Malaysia’s group. That’s why we hope to complete everything by March 31. It’s a long process, as the judicial procedure takes time and must follow the code,” he added.
He also confirmed that AFC will only act once the entire appeal process — including the FIFA Appeals Committee and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) — has been concluded.
“Whether it’s an appeal committee or CAS decision, we’ll take it as final. It all depends on FAM. Once that happens, the case file will be given to AFC to review, and we’ll take action accordingly in the context of FIFA’s decision and how it impacts AFC matches,” he said.
Windsor added that there are currently two separate case files — one through the disciplinary appeal CAS channel and another through the football tribunal CAS channel — and that AFC will only review matters relevant to player eligibility.
“We’re not here to punish for the sake of punishing. The goal is to uphold integrity and ensure that justice is done properly,” Windsor said. — October 30, 2025
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