Malaysia loses appeal against FIFA over false documents to recruit foreign players

The Malaysian Football Association on Thursday lost its appeal against a FIFA ruling that it cheated by using fake documents to naturalize foreign-born players for the men’s national team.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judges had upheld a 350,000 Swiss francs ($450,000) fine for the FA and a one-year ban for the seven players “given their complicit responsibility in this fraud.”

The players were issued Malaysian passports and selected for the team’s 4-0 win over Vietnam last June in a 2027 Asian Cup qualifier. That win must be overturned.

“The CAS panel found that the offense of falsifying participation documents had been established and that the 12-month ban from playing matches was a reasonable and proportionate sanction for the players,” the court said.

However, the court relaxed FIFA’s penalties by ruling that players can train and participate in football activities outside of matches until their ban expires.

The Malaysian Football Association acknowledged its «institutional shortcomings», the court said, «and did not dispute that it may bear responsibility for breaching» FIFA’s disciplinary rules.

“It was also stated that the players played a limited role in providing the documents requested by (the federation) and had not prepared or modified them,” CAS said.

Published on March 5, 2026