Just four months ago, Malaysia’s national football team soared to a 4–0 victory over Vietnam in an Asia Cup qualifier. The prime minister publicly congratulated the team and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), basking in the national pride.
FAM, in turn, thanked Anwar Ibrahim’s administration - not only for financial rewards but for facilitating the documentation of seven players cleared to represent Malaysia.
Then came the reckoning.
The International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) ruled that the citizenship documents of those seven players had been forged, imposing fines and sanctions.
FAM responded by invoking the Official Secrets Act (OSA), claiming it could not disclose details due to government passport procedures protected under the OSA.
But last Friday, the silence cracked at a FAM media conference. Information spilt out, and one fact stood firm: the players arrived in January and received their MyKad in May, enabling them to apply for Malaysian passports - a record turnaround.
Permanent residents who have been residing in the country for years, if not decades, are still awaiting their citizenship papers.
The lightning speed at which the National Registration Department (NRD) processed the citizenship, the MyKad, which enabled the issuance of Malaysian passports, is reminiscent of its “Projek IC” in Sabah.
However, in a sudden turn of events, in its appeal against Fifa’s disciplinary action, FAM shifted blame to the government. Its Geneva-based legal counsel, Serge Vittoz, said the appeal’s primary goal was to protect the players and prove FAM had no role in document forgery.
“FAM was not a party,” he insisted.
If not FAM, then who? The NRD? The government?
There was utter silence from Vittoz and several other FAM officials who were on the main table at the event.
Damning report
Fifa’s 19-page report was damning. It concluded that birth certificates had been doctored to alter birthplaces. The seven naturalised players - Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal, and Hector Hevel - were found guilty of violating Article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
Examples were stark: Figueiredo’s grandmother’s birthplace changed from Abre Campo to Johor; Holgado’s grandfather from Buenos Aires to George Town; Garces’ grandfather from Santa Fe to Penang; Hevel’s grandfather from The Hague to Malacca.
The NRD admitted it never received original birth certificates, issuing copies based on secondary information and foreign documents. Fifa, however, traced the originals and found glaring discrepancies.
Fifa’s committee noted that Malaysia’s validation process lacked proper diligence, casting doubt on FAM’s verification efforts.
FAM future
Yet, NRD director-general Badrul Hisham Alias maintained that all procedures complied with Malaysian law and constitutional requirements.
He cited verified lineage and fulfilment of Article 19 conditions - residency, Malay proficiency, and good conduct.
On the residency itself, the seven players do not qualify (the minimum period is 10 years), and becoming proficient in a foreign language in four months is an impossibility.
FAM, in a statement on Oct 7, denied any deliberate rule circumvention. But questions remain: How did falsified details make it into official forms? Why did players sign declarations affirming the truth of their information?
Moreover, FAM’s legal counsel Vittoz was found to be working in Malaysia without a valid permit, further complicating the association’s credibility.
As the saying goes, it never rains but pours. On Oct 30, the outcome of the appeal will be revealed - potentially reshaping the future of FAM a
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