FIFA rejects appeal and upholds 1-year ban for 7 naturalized Malaysian internationals

Hupu News on November 3, FIFA officially rejected the Malaysian Football Association’s appeal against the suspension of seven naturalized international players. After re-examination and hearings, FIFA confirmed that the previous sanction decision remained unchanged.

According to the first-instance ruling of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, these seven players violated relevant regulations by using forged documents to qualify for the competition, and were therefore sentenced to a one-year ban.

The players who were punished include: Gabriel Palmero and Jon Irazábal, who were born in Spain; Facundo Garcés and Rod from Argentina; Rodrigo Holgado and Imanol Machuca; Brazilian João Figueiredo and Dutch-born Hector Hevel.

The seven players each had to pay a fine of 2,000 Swiss francs, while the Malaysian Football Association was fined a heavy fine of 350,000 Swiss francs.

The incident originated from the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on June 10 this year, when Malaysia defeated Vietnam 4-0 at home. After the game, FIFA received complaints about the eligibility of some players, and immediately launched an investigation and finally confirmed that the violation was true.