In recent days, Southeast Asian media has been rumored to be full of information related to the Malaysian national team. Accordingly, a newspaper quoted an Indonesian football expert as saying that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) had forged documents to naturalize a number of foreign-born players.
According to this source, Malaysia may face a heavy penalty from the World Football Federation (FIFA), including the possibility of being banned from participating in international tournaments for 2 years.
The incident originated from Malaysia's 4-0 victory over Vietnam in the final qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup in June. In that match, they used 5 naturalized players including Jon Irazabal, Joao figueiredo, Rodrigo Holcado, Imanol Machuca and facundo Garces.
From here, doubts about the legality of the naturalization process of these names began to arise.
Facing a wave of criticism and doubts, recently, Malaysia head coach Peter Cklamovski said that he was very tired of constantly facing questions surrounding this topic.
"The match against Vietnam has passed for many weeks, but I am still being asked about naturalized players. I really felt exhausted. I have left that match behind and focused on preparing for the upcoming matches," Mr. Cklamovski shared.
This strategist also affirmed that all naturalization procedures are carried out in accordance with the law and have clear approval from competent authorities.
"We have all the documents confirmed by the Malaysian Government as well as FIFA. If I still have doubts, I don't know what more needs to be done to prove the legality of these players," the Malaysia captain added.
In addition to legal issues, coach Cklamovski also expressed sympathy for the individual sacrifices that naturalized players have had to go through to serve the national team.
He took the example of Imanol Machuca, who accepted to be absent at the moment of welcoming his son to join the national team, or Rodrigo Holgado, who had just undergone a long flight from South America to Asia, and immediately returned to play for the club.
Mr. Cklamovski also raised the issue of fairness in public perception. According to him, not only Malaysia but many countries in the region such as Indonesia or Vietnam have changed their policies to open the door for naturalized players.
Not long ago, the Malaysian team decided to withdraw from the 2025 Central Asian Football Championship due to not having the best force. Instead, the Football Association of Malaysia has planned to host two friendly matches with Singapore and Palestine on September 4 and 8 respectively in Kuala Lumpur.
According to coach Cklamovski, these will be important experiments to assess the quality of the squad before entering the match against Laos in the final qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup. Currently, Malaysia is temporarily leading the group with 6 points and the next goal is to win an official ticket to the continental tournament.
