KUALA LUMPUR: The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has cleared its general-secretary, Datuk Noor Azman Rahman (main image), of falsifying documents linked to the “doctored documentation” scandal, and has lifted the suspension imposed on him on Oct 17, 2025.
However, FAM’s Disciplinary Committee, which met today, concluded that Noor Azman was involved in administrative negligience, but deemed it appropriate to lift his suspension, even though there is an ongoing police investigation into the matter.
The decision does not mean Noor Azman has been fully exonerated, as Fifa indicated last month that it was investigating his role in the case involving seven players who were granted Malaysian citizenship.
The seven are Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces, Rodrigo Julian Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal Iraurgui and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano.
At its meeting on Dec 22, the FAM Executive Committee deliberated on the findings of the Independent Investigation Committee (IIC) report and decided to extend Noor Azman’s suspension, referring the matter to the Disciplinary Committee for further action.
“The FAM Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Datuk Dr Baljit Singh Sidhu, convened and, after taking into consideration the period of suspension already served as well as the IIC report dated Dec 15, 2025, decided to reinstate Datuk Noor Azman to his position as FAM general secretary with immediate effect,” FAM said in a statement today.
“This latest decision shows that Noor Azman was involved only in administrative negligence and was neither guilty of nor involved in document forgery.”
On Sept 26, Fifa’s Disciplinary Committee imposed sanctions on the FAM and the seven players for breaches of Article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code concerning forgery and falsification.
A month later, FAM suspended Noor Azman and said an independent committee would be set up to probe the series of events. Despite being suspended, Noor Azman attended the Asean-Fifa Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony held during the 47th Asean Summit in October at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
Subsequently, FAM appointed former Chief Justice, Tun Md Raus Sharif on Nov 3 to lead the IIC, but the committee couldn't conclusively determine who falsified players’ documents.
On Dec 8, FAM filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Image: FA of Malaysia
