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The Football Association of Malaysia (Malaysia's football governing body) has declared it will contest FIFA's decision to penalize the body for supposedly forging the citizenship documents of seven overseas-born players, who have now been banned from playing for the country for 12 months.

FIFA's Allegations and Penalties

In the ninth month, FIFA levied a penalty of over four hundred thousand dollars on FAM and suspended the players after finding that their ancestors were not born in Malaysia as stated, but instead in Argentina, the Brazilian nation, the European country and the Iberian nation. The global football governing body reiterated its claims about falsified papers in a disciplinary committee report released on Monday.

Each of the players – who all participated in Malaysia's four-nil win over the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this summer – was also penalized $2,500.

The accused group includes born in Spain Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Iraurgui, born in Argentina Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo who was born the South American country.

The Governing Body's Stance on Forgery

"Document falsification constitutes, plain and simple, a type of cheating," stated FIFA in its report.

"Forging documents undermines the very core of the basic tenets of the sport, not only those governing a athlete's qualification to play for a country's squad, but also the essential values of a clean sport and the concept of fair play," commented a senior official, vice-chair of FIFA's ethics panel.

The Association's Response and Challenge Strategy

FIFA's document claims that the Malaysian association admitted it "was contacted by third parties regarding the players’ heritage and did not attempt to independently verify the validity of the papers."

"The original birth certificates showed a sharp contrast to the submitted papers," it said.

FIFA also mentioned it was "managed to acquire the relevant original documents without hindrance," which revealed a "lack of proper diligence" by the Malaysian body.

The Football Association of Malaysia responded to FIFA's allegations in a official communication on Tuesday, maintaining the discrepancies were the result of an "procedural mistake" and the individuals are "legitimate Malaysian citizens."

"Claims that players 'acquired or were aware of fraudulent papers' are unfounded as no concrete proof has been presented so far," the statement said.

The governing body will present an formal challenge of the international body's ruling, using authentic papers that have been certified by the Malaysian government.

Regional Background and Political Responses

South-east Asian nations have lately pursued hiring campaigns for naturalised players, modelled after the Indonesian approach of bringing in Dutch-born players from the overseas community.

Malaysia's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, said in a statement that "the football association needs to finish the appeal process and that they cannot remain silent but must respond clearly to all revelations from FIFA."

"Fans are angry, disappointed and let down," she added.

Current Situation and Upcoming Matches

Despite uncertainty regarding the national team's composition, Malaysia is now placed 123rd in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to play in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup this month, meeting the Laotian team on the upcoming Thursday.