According to a notice issued on March 17, the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee determined that FAM violated Article 56 of the organization's code of conduct by registering players against regulations in two matches. Accordingly, matches against Nepal (March 25, 2025) and Vietnam (June 10, 2025) were both defeated 0-3.
The decision was made based on Article 25, 1 of the AFC disciplinary code, which means that all results of the two matches mentioned above are cancelled and Malaysia officially receives defeat with the same score of 0-3.
In addition to the defeat, FAM was also fined 50,000 USD. The agency said it would send a written request to AFC to provide a full legal basis for the decision before considering further steps.
The disciplinary action takes place in the context that the AFC is conducting a comprehensive FAM audit after a scandal related to naturalized players. Previously, AFC Secretary General Windsor John affirmed that the audit process aims to review the governance system, from the player registration process to the monitoring and decision-making mechanism.
According to AFC leaders, the audit results will be the basis for reforms, and may even lead to the organization of an extraordinary congress and re-election of the FAM leadership in the near future.
The incident is considered one of the biggest scandals in Malaysian football recently, exposing loopholes in player status verification and internal governance, and leading to strict disciplinary measures from the AFC.
