Indonesian minister denies filing Fifa complaint over Harimau Malaya players

 FAM and seven naturalised Malaysian footballers were penalised by Fifa in September for submitting falsified documents to confirm the players’ eligibility.

FAM and seven naturalised Malaysian players from the Harimau Malaya squad were slapped with sanctions following the controversy over falsified documents last September. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 Indonesian youth and sports minister Erick Thohir has denied lodging a complaint with Fifa about the eligibility of seven naturalised Harimau Malaya players.

Responding to claims on a Malaysian news portal that he approached the world football body about the matter, Erick, who also heads Indonesia’s football association, said there was no benefit to such action.

Erick Thohir.

“It is certainly not true. I don’t see why we would interfere in another country’s (affairs),” he said in a report on Indonesian sports news portal DetikSport.

“We need each other. In fact, we are encouraging greater competition among countries in Southeast Asia and Asia.

“If our football does not improve, we will continue to lose to teams from Europe and Latin America.”

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and seven naturalised Malaysian footballers were penalised by Fifa last September after it said FAM submitted falsified documents to confirm the players’ eligibility before Malaysia’s 2027 Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam in June.

An independent committee that investigated the case said it could not conclusively determine who falsified the documents.

The police have also opened their own investigation into the alleged document forgery.

FAM was fined 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 million) while the seven players – Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Gabriel Palmero, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel – were fined 2,000 Swiss francs (about RM10,560) each and suspended for 12 months from all football-related activities, effective from the date of notification.

Fifa has also rejected FAM’s appeal against its sanctions, prompting the association to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The CAS has since granted an application for a stay of execution submitted by the players, allowing them to continue their careers and take part in football-related activities until it reaches a final decision on the appeal on Feb 26.

FAM’s executive committee resigned on Jan 28 to allow Fifa and the Asian Football Confederation the space to independently assess, review, and address governance, administrative and procedural matters in FAM. - FMT