Corbin Ong (top) of Malaysia fights for the ball against Sanish Shrestha of Nepal during the Asian Cup qualifiers between the two teams at Stadium Sultan Ibrahim in Johor Bahru on March 25, 2025. - AFP
KATHMANDU: Nepal have appealed to FIFA to overturn their 2-0 defeat to Malaysia in 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers in March this year, claiming that their opponents fielded an ineligible player.
Last month, the world governing body FIFA banned seven Malaysian foreign-born players for a year and fined the FA of Malaysia (FAM) RM1.8mil, saying they had submitted forged ancestry documents.
One of the seven, Hector Hevel, scored Malaysia's opening goal in the match played in Johor, Malaysia.
"We have reached out regarding an ineligible player in the match. Thus the result has to be overturned," Indra Man Tuladhar, CEO of All Nepal Football Association, told AFP.
FIFA accused the FAM of submitting doctored or false documents that said the seven players had Malaysian ancestry, making them eligible to represent the country. FAM denied knowingly doing anything wrong.
FIFA said an investigation showed that none of the players actually had a parent or grandparent born in the Southeast Asian nation.
The seven banned players had all played in Malaysia's 4-0 Asian Cup qualifying win against Vietnam in June.
Nepal are currently at the bottom of Asian Cup qualifying Group F with no points from four games.
Malaysia are top on 12 points, Vietnam are second on nine points with Laos third on three. - AFP
