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The Malaysian Football Association (Malaysia's football governing body) has declared it will appeal FIFA's decision to sanction the body for allegedly falsifying the citizenship documents of multiple foreign-born players, who have now been banned from playing for the national team for 12 months.

The Global Football Body's Claims and Penalties

In the ninth month, FIFA levied a penalty of $438,000 on FAM and banned the footballers after finding that their grandparents were not born in Malaysia as claimed, but rather in Argentina, Brazil, the European country and Spain. The international football authority restated its claims about falsified papers in a disciplinary committee report published on Monday.

Each of the players – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil win over Vietnam in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this summer – was also penalized twenty-five hundred dollars.

The accused group includes born in Spain Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Figueiredo who was born Brazil.

FIFA's Stance on Forgery

"Document falsification constitutes, pure and simple, a type of cheating," said FIFA in its findings.

"Forging documents undermines the heart of the basic tenets of the sport, not only those governing a athlete's qualification to represent a national team, but also the essential values of a fair game and the principle of fair play," added Jorge Palacio, vice-chair of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

The Association's Response and Challenge Strategy

FIFA's report states that FAM admitted it "received inquiries by external agencies regarding the players’ heritage and did not attempt to personally confirm the validity of the papers."

"Initial documentation 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 "lack of proper diligence" by FAM.

The Football Association of Malaysia reacted to FIFA's report in a official communication on Tuesday, asserting the discrepancies were the result of an "administrative error" and the players are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."

"Allegations that the athletes 'obtained or were aware of fake documents' are baseless as no solid evidence has been provided to date," the statement said.

The governing body will present an formal challenge of the international body's ruling, using authentic papers that have been verified by the national authorities.

Southeast Asian Background and Official Reactions

Southeast Asian countries have lately pursued hiring campaigns for naturalised players, inspired by the Indonesian approach of recruiting born in the Netherlands players from the Indonesian diaspora.

The country's minister for sports, the official, said in a statement that "the football association needs to complete the appeal process and that they should not stay quiet but must respond clearly to every disclosure from FIFA."

"Supporters are upset, hurt and let down," she remarked.

Present Situation and Forthcoming Games

Despite uncertainty surrounding the squad's composition, Malaysia is now placed one hundred twenty-third in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is set to compete in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup this month, facing the Laotian team on Thursday.