PETALING JAYA: The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) are keeping their cards close to their chest amid growing public scrutiny but gave an assurance that every effort is being made to appeal against the sanctions imposed by FIFA.
And in the event that their appeal is unsuccessful, they could turn to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Acting FAM president Datuk Yusoff Mahadi said the national body had already begun internal discussions to tackle the issue, with the executive council members briefed during a meeting at the FAM headquarters in Kelana Jaya yesterday.
“We had a meeting yesterday to brief the executive council members on the situation, the sanctions and what is next for the body to work on in solving the matter,” said Yusoff when contacted by The Star.
“It is best they know what is happening from us rather than from others. We will now wait for the grounds of judgement made by FIFA and also the Football Tribunal verdict by them.”
Yusoff said the association would only be able to structure their appeal once they have received FIFA’s detailed judgement.
“Once that is done, we will prepare our arguments for appeal based on the facts provided by FIFA. If the appeal is unsuccessful, then we will look at another avenue, which is the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS),” he said.
He added that FAM expect to receive FIFA’s full report by the end of this week.
Pressed on the nature of the technical error that led to the punishment, or whether FAM could confirm the players’ Malaysian lineage especially after FIFA revealed their documents were doctored, Yusoff remained guarded.
“For now, I can’t say more until the facts have arrived. We can’t go deeper until the grounds of judgement are in our hands,” he said.
“All I want to assert here is that work is ongoing to deal with this situation.”
Attempts were made to reach FAM secretary-general Datuk Noor Azman Rahman, who revealed the technical error made by a staff member on the players’ registration on Sunday but he wasn’t available for comments.
Last Friday, FIFA fined FAM 350,000 Swiss francs (RM1.8mil) and handed 12-month bans to seven heritage players – Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Jon Irazabal, Hector Hevel, Gabriel Palmero, Imanol Machuca and Joao Figueiredo – after uncovering irregularities in their registration documents.
Though no details were provided on what caused the irregularity, many wondered what triggered FIFA to delve deep into the matter.
It is learnt that the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) had lodged a report on the players after Malaysia thrashed them 4-0 in the 2026 Asian Cup third-round qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur on June 10.
The report was made a day after the game and FIFA investigated the matter for months before coming up with the sanction statement on Sept 26.
According to sources close to the world body, full details on the matter could be made public on their website in the next day or two.
