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The Malaysian Football Association (Malaysia's football governing body) has announced it will contest FIFA's decision to penalize the organization for supposedly falsifying the citizenship documents of multiple foreign-born players, who have now been suspended from playing for the country for one year.

The Global Football Body's Claims and Fines

In the ninth month, FIFA imposed a fine of over four hundred thousand dollars on FAM and suspended the footballers after discovering that their grandparents were not born in Malaysia as claimed, but instead in the South American nation, Brazil, the Netherlands and Spain. The global football governing body restated its claims about doctored papers in a disciplinary committee report released on the start of the week.

Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil win over the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this June – was also fined $2,500.

The implicated group includes Spanish-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Garces and Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Holgado and Machuca, as well as Serrano who was originated in the Holland, and Figueiredo who was hails from Brazil.

FIFA's Stance on Document Falsification

"Document falsification represents, plain and simple, a type of dishonesty," stated FIFA in its report.

"The act of forgery undermines the heart of the basic tenets of the sport, not only those governing a athlete's qualification to play for a country's squad, but also the core ethics of a fair game and the principle of sportsmanship," added a senior official, deputy chairperson of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

FAM's Reply and Appeal Plan

The international body's report states that the Malaysian association conceded it "was contacted by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and failed to personally confirm the validity of the papers."

"The original birth certificates indicated a stark difference to the documentation provided," it said.

The organization also said it was "managed to acquire the relevant original documents easily," which revealed a "lack of proper diligence" by the Malaysian body.

FAM reacted to FIFA's allegations in a statement on Tuesday, asserting the inconsistencies were the result of an "procedural mistake" and the players are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."

"Allegations that players 'acquired or were aware of fake documents' are baseless as no concrete proof has been provided to date," the announcement declared.

The association will present an formal challenge of the international body's ruling, using original documents that have been certified by the Malaysian government.

Southeast Asian Context and Official Responses

South-east Asian nations have recently pursued hiring campaigns for naturalised players, inspired by Indonesia's strategy of bringing in born in the Netherlands footballers from the overseas community.

The country's minister for sports, the official, stated in a release that "the football association must complete the appeal process and that they cannot remain silent but have to answer plainly to all revelations made by the global authority."

"Supporters are upset, disappointed and disappointed," she remarked.

Current Status and Upcoming Games

Regardless of doubt surrounding the national team's composition, Malaysia is now ranked one hundred twenty-third in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to compete in Asian Cup qualifiers this month, meeting the Laotian team on Thursday.