The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) continues to pursue plans to take the case involving a group of naturalized players to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), despite the detailed conclusions just announced by FIFA's Refirm Committee.
According to a 63-page document, FIFA confirmed that the naturalization records of 7 foreign players were forged. Meanwhile, FAM's handling process lacked transparency and did not clearly identify the person responsible. The agency also noted that FAM did not take any internal disciplinary measures, despite violations being pointed out.
A prestigious US newspaper commented that FAM's continued bringing the case to CAS after FIFA published a full dossier was a sign of resistance and evasion of responsibility.
The source said FAM did not clarify the role of the individual involved in the document revisions, and warned about the risk of covering up the case's "key figure".
Meanwhile, FIFA has directed a deeper investigation into the internal operations of the Football Federation of Malaysia and will notify authorities in many countries to consider criminal liability related to the forgery of documents.
On the other hand, Malaysian legal experts assess the possibility of FAM success at CAS as very low. A prominent Malaysian sports lawyer believes that FAM lacks evidence to dismiss FIFA's conclusions and has not yet proven that the act of forging documents occurred outside of its control. Therefore, the prospect of changing the verdict or reducing the penalty is almost non-existent.
