A pivotal moment in Malaysian football invites new perspectives and a focus on strengthening the game’s foundations. – Filepic
Later this month, the 2025 BWF Badminton World Tour Finals will take place. And while Malaysia will have many representatives in the competition, I’ll be paying special attention to the women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan. They may not be the tournament favourites, but they’re absolutely mine for this simple reason: They work hard and never give up.
Of all the qualities to admire, the ability to become the best version of yourself through sheer industry and diligence is perhaps the most honest route to success. We are each born with our own unique mix of skills and talents. But succeeding by doing your best is something anyone can aspire to.
This spirit is similar to what Cape Verde’s national football team has achieved: qualifying for the World Cup despite having a population of just 525,000 (that’s roughly one Kuantan or one Kota Kinabalu).
Of course, Cape Verde were aided significantly by their use of heritage players. The squad that clinched qualification featured footballers playing in 15 different countries, some born as far afield as Portugal, France, and the Netherlands.
Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes, for instance, has a Cape Verdean father but was born in Ireland. A LinkedIn message in 2019 introduced him to the possibility of representing Cape Verde, and over the years he has come to embrace it. “I’ve learned so much about the culture, the people, the music, the food – what it means to be Cape Verdean. To go back now to Ireland and share those experiences... it’s amazing,” he told The Athletic magazine. “Every day, I feel a bit more Cape Verdean.”
Lopes wasn’t part of the Cape Verde squad that drew 1-1 with Malaysia in May this year, but another heritage player made his debut that night. Gabriel Felipe Arrocha (also known as Gabriel Palmero) started for Malaysia and almost scored a remarkable goal after six minutes.
Gabriel was one of seven heritage players who represented Malaysia this year and who have now become entangled in controversy. Everything seemed in order when Malaysia submitted enquiries to FIFA in March and June asking for confirmation that seven players born in Spain, Argentina, Brazil, and the Netherlands were eligible to play for Malaysia. This was based on documents showing that their grandparents were born in places like Melaka, Georgetown, and Kuching.
FIFA responded between June 6 and 9, saying that based on the information provided, the players appeared eligible. Then on June 10, all seven represented Malaysia against Vietnam in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Two of them scored in the 4–0 victory, putting us on the brink of qualification.
If matters had ended there, it would have been a wonderful success story, echoing Cape Verde’s achievements. A Malaysian diaspora returning to contribute back to its motherland.
Unfortunately, we now know that FIFA discovered the birth certificates had been tampered with and that the grandparents were actually born in cities such as Buenos Aires, Abre Campo, and Santa Cruz de la Palma – literally half a world away.
The immediate fear, of course, is the sporting penalty. If the AFC imposes a points deduction, we may lose our Asian Cup qualification spot. But I believe the danger facing Malaysia is larger than missing a single tournament.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Italy’s Serie A was one of the wealthiest and most prestigious football leagues in Europe, with revenues comparable to the English Premier League. Then came the 2006 Calciopoli scandal, where it was revealed that executives from top clubs like Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio, and Fiorentina were involved in manipulating referee appointments.
The clubs suffered immediate punishment, and Juventus were relegated and stripped of their title. But the longer-term impact was even more damaging. Stadium attendance and revenue dropped. Domestic TV rights were renegotiated. Serie A struggled to sell itself abroad.
Nearly two decades later, the consequences of that scandal still linger. In 2023/24, the league’s revenue was around €2.5bil (RM11.99bil), about a third when compared to the Premier League’s €6.5bil (RM31.18bil).
As the saying goes, “A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep its eyes on the spot where the crack was.”
The problem for Malaysia is that the Football Association of Malaysia can only do so much to patch the cracks.
Given that our national reputation is now at stake (I haven’t even talked about how the National Registration Department has somehow been dragged into this mess), the government has little choice but to get involved.
Already sponsors are reportedly wary about supporting Malaysian football. Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has acknowledged that FAM’s leaders must take concrete steps saying, “Now they must hold discussions on governance and show how they intend to improve to regain sponsors’ confidence.”
But I think the government needs to do more than just advise. For a start, they should establish a credible third party to oversee football governance in Malaysia. A neutral authority whose assurances of integrity will be accepted not only by Malaysians but also by the international community. To keep to the soccer analogy, a fair and trusted referee.
We must also raise the profile of other sports in Malaysia. Football’s flaws must be seen as an isolated incident, not a national characteristic. People need to believe that Malaysians can excel honestly, without relying on underhanded or nefarious means.
From that perspective, the pressure now falls even more heavily on athletes like Pearly and Thinaah to lead by example. But they don’t need to win the tournament to prove anything. They just need to show that it’s possible to do great things the right way.
Logic is the antithesis of emotion but mathematician- turned-scriptwriter Dzof Azmi’s theory is that people need both to make sense of life’s vagaries and contradictions. Write to Dzof at lifestyle@thestar.com.my. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.
