On the evening of September 26, FIFA announced a penalty for the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) for using 7 naturalized players who did not qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.
However, it is noteworthy that FIFA has not yet decided to award the Malaysia team in the match against Vietnam in June 2025, despite 6/7 players in violation.
According to FIFA's disciplinary regulations, if a team uses an illegal player, they can be held to a 0-3 draw (unless they have lost by a larger margin).
The failure to impose this penalty on Malaysia is due to the ongoing handling process. Currently, FIFA only applies administrative sanctions such as a ban and fines for forging documents.
On the homepage, FIFA also stated that the Disciplinary Committee had sent the case file to another department called FIFA Football Tribunal (F FIFA's dispute resolution board). This department is the agency that decides on the validity of the players.
If the agency determines that naturalized players do not meet FIFA's legal requirements and regulations on naturalization, Malaysia could lose the match.
Malaysia's case is compared to Ecuador's Byron Castillo in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. At that time, although this player used documents that were incorrect about his birthplace, because he had been a Ecuadoran citizen before, FIFA did not thua the Ecuador team, only fined him and deducted points in the next tournament.
In contrast, Malaysia's problem is related to naturalization procedures and competition status conversion. If FAM cannot prove that the 7 players are eligible to wear the national team jersey, a heavier penalty could be imposed, including being held to a draw and having points deducted in the ongoing qualifying round.
