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The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has announced it will appeal FIFA's decision to sanction the organization for supposedly forging the nationality papers of seven overseas-born players, who have now been banned from playing for the country for 12 months.

The Global Football Body's Claims and Penalties

In September, FIFA imposed a penalty of $438,000 on the Malaysian association and suspended the players after discovering that their ancestors were not born in Malaysia as stated, but rather in Argentina, the Brazilian nation, the European country and the Iberian nation. The international football authority restated its claims about doctored documentation in a disciplinary committee report released on Monday.

Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's 4-0 victory over the Vietnamese team in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this summer – was also penalized $2,500.

The implicated group includes born in Spain Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Holland, and Figueiredo who was hails from Brazil.

The Governing Body's Stance on Forgery

"Document falsification represents, pure and simple, a form of dishonesty," said FIFA in its findings.

"The act of forgery strikes at the heart of the basic tenets of football, not only those regulating a player’s eligibility to play for a country's squad, but also the essential values of a fair game and the concept of sportsmanship," added Jorge Palacio, deputy chairperson of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

FAM's Reply and Appeal Plan

The international body's document states that the Malaysian association admitted it "was contacted by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and failed to independently verify the validity of the papers."

"The original birth certificates indicated a sharp contrast to the submitted papers," it noted.

FIFA also said it was "able to obtain the relevant original documents easily," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.

FAM reacted to the global body's report in a official communication on Tuesday, asserting the discrepancies were the outcome of an "administrative error" and the players are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."

"Claims that the athletes 'obtained or were aware of fraudulent papers' are unfounded as no solid evidence has been provided to date," the announcement said.

The association will submit an official appeal of FIFA's ruling, using authentic papers that have been certified by the national authorities.

Southeast Asian Context and Political Responses

Southeast Asian countries have lately engaged in recruitment drives for naturalised players, inspired by the Indonesian approach of recruiting born in the Netherlands footballers from the Indonesian diaspora.

Malaysia's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, stated in a statement that "the football association must complete the appeal process and that they should not stay quiet but have to answer plainly to every disclosure from the global authority."

"Fans are upset, disappointed and disappointed," she added.

Present Status and Upcoming Matches

Regardless of uncertainty surrounding the squad's lineup, Malaysia is now placed 123rd in FIFA's AFC ranking and is scheduled to play in Asian Cup qualifiers this month, meeting the Laotian team on the upcoming Thursday.