The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has just issued a severe penalty against the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and 7 players involved in the case of using fake documents to participate in the third qualifying round of the AFC Asian Cup 2027.
According to the announcement, players Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, facundo Tomas Garces, Rodrigo Julian Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Joao Vitor Brandao figueiredo, Jon Irazabal Iraurgui and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano have been identified as violating Article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) for for forgery and distorted conduct.
FAM is said to have submitted documents with invalid documents to register this group of players to compete.
The incident occurred after the match between Malaysia and Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on June 10, 2025. After the match, FIFA received complaints related to the playing status of some players, thereby launching an investigation.
As a result, FAM was fined 350,000 CHF (about 11.5 billion VND). The seven players each paid a fine of VND 2,000 (about VND 66 million) and were banned from all football activities for 12 months, starting from the date of the announcement of the decision. At the same time, the issue of the players' national team representative status has been transferred to the FIFA Football Court for further consideration.
FIFA said FAM and the players have the right to request a reasoned decision within 10 days, and can still appeal to the Jury.
