FIFA Sanctions Malaysia for Falsifying Heritage Players' Citizenship Documents

FIFA has accused the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) of forging birth certificates to falsely claim that seven foreign-born football players had Malaysian-born grandparents, enabling their eligibility to play for Malaysia under FIFA's "grandfather rule." An investigation revealed that the original birth certificates of the players' grandparents showed birthplaces in countries such as Argentina, Spain, Brazil, and the Netherlands, contradicting the Malaysian documents submitted. FIFA described the act as "pure and simple, a form of cheating" and imposed a fine of 350,000 Swiss francs on FAM, with each player fined 2,000 Swiss francs and banned from football activities for a year. The scandal has raised serious governance and verification concerns within Malaysian football and threatens the country's 2027 Asian Cup qualifying campaign. Malaysian officials maintain that the players are legitimate citizens and attribute discrepancies to administrative errors, with plans to appeal FIFA's sanctions. The controversy has also affected the players' club careers, with some suspended from official matches as the situation unfolds.