The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ruled that the Malaysian team lost 0-3 in matches against Nepal and Vietnam in 2025, for using unqualified players. This penalty caused the Malaysian team from the top of Group F with 15 points and almost certainly a ticket to the next round, to now only 9 points and have been eliminated.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese team rose from second place to the top of the group with 15 points. Even if the Malaysian team defeats the Vietnamese team in the upcoming match, the rankings of the two teams remain unchanged. According to regulations, only the group winner will win a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup.
Malaysian national team CEO Rob Friend said: "We respect the tournament management processes. At the same time, this issue is also being considered through appropriate legal channels. Throughout this period, our priority is still clearly to support the players, ensuring they are in the best conditions to represent Malaysia in the most professional and proud way.
The forgery of documents related to the playing status for the Malaysian national team of 7 naturalized players Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel has caused great damage to Malaysian football.
After FIFA's penalty, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but was also unsuccessful. After that, AFC issued a penalty of losing and deducting points from the Malaysian team.
Malaysian football fans are very disappointed and angry with FAM, because they believe that their wrong actions have caused the Malaysian team to be punished, lose their ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup and risk receiving other penalties in the future. They hope there will be strong reforms so that Malaysian football can regain its innocence and compete fairly with opponents in the future.
Although the hope of winning a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup has ended, Rod Friend emphasized that the Malaysian team will dedicate themselves in the rematch with the Vietnamese team. He shared: "All our attention is focused on preparing for the upcoming match with the Vietnamese team, where the Malaysian team will play with the same belief, resilience and discipline as the team showed in 2025".
The Vietnam vs Malaysia match will take place on the evening of March 31st at Thien Truong Stadium, Ninh Binh.
