At the outset, it must be stated that the seven players involved in the football scandal are not “heritage” nor naturalised players. Neither of their grandparents was born in Malaysia.
The seven, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Gabriel Palmero, Jon Irazabal, and Hector Hevel, who the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) banned for 12 months, are just journeymen and fortune hunters who used forged documents to represent Malaysia.
They have been found guilty. To dress it up with any other term - such as claiming “historical links” - is a travesty, an insult to the descendants of the nation’s true legends.
Since Fifa sanctioned the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the seven players on Sept 26 last year, the public has been denied the truth.
From the moment the scandal broke, FAM officials chose clouding over accountability, peddling fibs and half-truths to cover up a brazen act of forgery.
They attempted to cloak the fact that fraudulent documents - including birth certificates - were used to clear these seven players to don the Harimau Malaya jersey in the Asian Cup qualifiers.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was quick to shower praise on our athletes in cycling and hockey over the weekend. Yet, when it comes to the national sport, mired in a gutter of its own making, he has remained conspicuously silent.
It seems his aides curate briefings to deliver only victories. But this, unfortunately, is not a victory; it is a national embarrassment of the highest order, exposing Malaysian football to charges of systemic skullduggery.
FAM itself tied the prime minister to this fiasco. After Anwar had congratulated the team on their 4-0 win over Vietnam last June, FAM, in a statement, thanked his administration not just for the RM30 million allocation, but also for “facilitating the documentation” of the seven players. The government’s fingerprints are all over this.
Through the National Registration Department (NRD) and Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, whose ministry oversees it, the government’s role is already a matter of public record.
NRD’s bluff
When the scandal broke, a declaration dated Sept 19, 2025 made by NRD director-general Badrul Hisham Alias, and submitted to Fifa as a defence statement, stated that the players provided the required documents with the names and identification details of their grandparents.
“In accordance with our internal procedures, NRD conducted a cross-examination and verification of this information. As part of this verification, the government also received documentation relating to all seven applicants issued in Argentina, Brazil, and Spain.
“These documents were reviewed and used as part of our internal cross-verification process to confirm the applicants’ lineage through their grandparents. This comparative assessment of foreign and domestic records was a standard measure undertaken to ensure accuracy and integrity in determining eligibility,” it said.
Three bodies - the Fifa Disciplinary Committee, Fifa Appeals Committee, and the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) have called NRD’s bluff; there is no such lineage. So, what has NRD got to say?
In January, Badrul said they would address all concerns and allegations after a conclusive report is released.
“We will answer this later. After the report is out, we will address the issue because inconsistency can complicate the matter,” he told Malaysiakini.
So, what is holding up the explanation of the issue? How did NRD find links or lineage when none were presented to any of these panels? Was Badrul ordered to lie? By whom?
The game is up. The bravado has died. The threats of legal war have fizzled into silence. The high-priced Geneva lawyers, paid with public funds, could not undo the damage.
Now, on top of those legal fees, FAM must swallow its pride and wire 350,000 Swiss Francs to Fifa - the fine for its reckless defiance.
But no fine will appease Malaysians. Because this was not just an administrative failure; it was an exercise in cheating, executed with public money. It was an abuse of taxpayer funds to deceive the very people who fund the game.
No amount of spin, no condescending press statements, and no threats of lawsuits can change that. The appeal process is over. Those who beat their chests about “going to war” have retreated with their tails between their legs, their silence deafening.
Rakyat want answers, accountability
But Malaysians have not retreated. We have a right to know the full extent of this rot. Here are the questions that will not go away:
Who exactly mooted the idea of recruiting these specific foreign-born players? Was it a collective brainwave among the 16 executive council members?
It is absurd to imagine a sudden flash of inspiration electrifying the room, with everyone leaping to their feet in unison. Ideas like this come from individuals.
Who was it? Was it a proposal from a third party, an agent or a fixer, funnelled through an exco member?
And who, specifically, in FAM walked into the NRD office to submit the birth certificate applications? What documents did they provide as proof?
Most critically, to the NRD: What “secondary evidence” was gathered to falsely establish that a grandparent of these players was born in Malaysia? What is the standard of proof when the integrity of the nation's citizenship is at stake?
Digging up the truth
For 166 days, we have been told to trust the process. But the process was rigged. The truth has been buried under a mountain of lies, legal fees, and fines. It is time to dig it up.
Malaysians deserve answers, not silence. We deserve the names, the documents, and the accountability that have been so artfully dodged.
This saga has never really been about football. It is about a culture of impunity that allows officials to gamble with the nation’s reputation and taxpayer money, then hide behind legal smoke and mirrors when the bet fails.
The silence from the top is not just an oversight; it is a quiet resignation to the rot. If our leaders cannot answer for how public funds were used to forge public documents, then they are not just silent partners in this scandal - they are complicit in the cover-up.
The truth has been sanctioned, fined, and silenced for 166 days since the fiasco emerged last year, and that is 166 days too long. - Mkini
R NADESWARAN is an award-winning journalist whose journalistic career has spanned more than five decades. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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