According to updates from the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) on April 1, the Malaysian team was deducted 9.67 points after losing to the Vietnamese team. This result caused the team nicknamed Harimau Malaya to drop 3 places to 138th in the world. This is their lowest ranking since April 2024 under coach Kim Pan-gon.
This is the next bad news for Malaysian football, after the national team of this country was eliminated from the 2027 Asian Cup. On March 17, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) issued a penalty to the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the Malaysian national team.
Accordingly, the Malaysian team was stripped of two victories against Nepal and Vietnam, for using naturalized players who did not meet the conditions. According to the AFC's ruling, the Malaysian team was defeated 0-3 in both of these matches.
This decline came after the national team was eliminated early from the AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers, according to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC)'s ruling on March 17 regarding Malaysia's use of unqualified naturalized players.
At the end of November 2025, the Malaysian team was still ranked 116th in the world. However, after being exposed for fraud related to naturalized players, FIFA canceled the results of the Malaysian team's victories over Cape Verde, Singapore and Palestine.
This latest defeat took place after a sharp drop from 116th to 121st place in December last year after FIFA canceled three friendly wins against Cape Verde, Singapore and Palestine. This caused the Malaysian team's ranking to continuously drop from 116th to 121st, 135th and most recently 138th.
The Malaysian team will take a lot of time to improve their position. In the immediate future, they will focus on ASEAN Championship 2026, a tournament taking place from July 24 to August 24, gathering 10 Southeast Asian teams. The Malaysian team is in Group B with Thailand, Philippines, Myanmar and Laos.
