7 naturalised players didn’t verify citizenship documents, says Fifa

Fifa notes the players’ claims to Malaysian ancestry was ‘generally based on family hearsay’ rather than verified records.

The seven footballers featured in Malaysia’s 4-0 win against Vietnam in a 2027 Asian Cup qualifier in June.

PETALING JAYA:

 Seven football players recently naturalised as Malaysian citizens have admitted that they never read or verified the documents submitted on their behalf to the government for their naturalisation.

This includes a declaration that they had lived for 10 years in Malaysia, revealed Fifa’s appeal committee – which also noted that the players’ claim to Malaysian ancestry was “generally based on family hearsay rather than verified records”.

The committee today released its written decision confirming sanctions on the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the seven players, which Fifa said used falsified documents to confirm the players’ eligibility to represent the national football team.

In the decision, the seven players acknowledged that some documents required for their naturalisation were in Malay, a language which they did not speak, and that they neither sought translations nor reviewed the content.

During hearings before Fifa’s appeal committee, the players explained that their documentation – including their birth certificates and that of their parents and grandparents – was collected and forwarded to their agents by family members.

Despite not checking any of the paperwork submitted on their behalf, they stressed that their documents were authentic and unaltered at the time these were given to their respective agents.

They also argued that any manipulation occurred after the documents were handed over to FAM – without their knowledge or involvement.

The players stressed that FAM managed the bureaucratic process for their naturalisation, including internal checks and submission of applications to Malaysian authorities.

Fifa previously said that contrary to documents submitted by FAM claiming that the grandparents of the seven naturalised players were born in Malaysia, its own investigation found original records indicating that the grandparents were actually born in Spain, Argentina, Brazil, and the Netherlands.

Fifa’s regulations allow players to represent a country if their parents or grandparents were born there.

‘Spain… I mean Malaysia, sorry’

One of the players, Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, initially stated during the committee’s hearing that his grandmother was born in Spain before correcting himself.

“My grandfather was born in Venezuela and my grandmother in Spain… I mean Malaysia, sorry,” he said.

Apart from Arrocha, who handed over his documents in person to his agent and had not produced a copy during the proceedings, the other players filed the relevant screenshots and WhatsApp conversations as evidence online.

“… all of which include birth certificates of their grandparents. None of them lists a place of birth in Malaysia (or territories that now comprise the country of Malaysia),” said the committee.

Apart from Arrocha, the other players involved are Facundo Tomás Garcés, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, João Vitor Brandão Figueiredo, Jon Irazábal Iraurgui and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano.

Fifa in September fined FAM 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 million) and suspended the seven players for 12 months after finding that documents submitted to confirm their eligibility contained false information.

They have also been fined 2,000 Swiss francs (about RM10,560).

The seven footballers featured in Malaysia’s 4-0 win against Vietnam in a 2027 Asian Cup qualifier in June. - FMT