Top Malaysian Football Officials Quit Over Foreign-Born Players Scandal

Kuala Lumpur: The entire executive committee of Malaysia’s football association resigned Wednesday, the latest blow in a damaging eligibility row over forged documents used to field foreign-born players in Asian Cup qualifiers. The move follows FIFA’s probe last year into the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) over its inclusion of “heritage players” in the national team — foreign-born athletes accused of falsely claiming Malaysian ancestry. “The resignations are to safeguard the reputation and institutional interests of (the association) and to mitigate the risk of further adverse consequences that could affect Malaysian football as a whole,” acting president Yusoff Mahadi told reporters. He described the move as voluntary, and a “measured and principled step taken in response to recent developments that have attracted significant public attention and external scrutiny”. Wednesday’s resignations will “provide the appropriate space for FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation to independently assess, review, and, where necessary, address governance, administrative, and procedural matters within FAM”, Yusoff added. FIFA suspended seven foreign-born players for a year in September and fined the FAM $400,000 for submitting doctored papers claiming they had Malaysian ancestry. FIFA accused the country’s federation of submitting the documents to make them eligible to represent the Southeast Asian nation, ostensibly to give the national football team a boost. Football’s global governing body then launched a probe after receiving a complaint following Malaysia’s 4-0 thrashing of Vietnam in a June Asian Cup qualifier. An investigation by the body showed that none of the players — Hector Hevel, Jon Irazabal, Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca and Joao Brandao Figueiredo — had a parent or grandparent born in the country. FAM appealed the sanctions, but a FIFA committee rejected it and issued a scathing report slamming the association for “not taking any discernible disciplinary action” in the wake of the allegations. FAM has since appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, where the case is pending. In December FIFA again penalised the Southeast Asian nation with three 3-0 defeats in friendlies and slapped on an additional $12,500 in fines. The association’s general-secretary, Noor Azman Rahman, will now continue to oversee the FAM’s daily operations with the help of the Kuala Lumpur-based Asian Football Confederation, officials said Wednesday. “What we have discussed in today’s meeting is to help assess the FAM in regards to several internal aspects,” AFC general secretary Windsor Paul John told the press conference. The AFC is then to provide a report of their findings at an upcoming FAM congress. Meanwhile, the FAM on Monday said the CAS granted the seven players a reprieve pending the outcome of the hearings, now set for February 25. The AFC’s Windsor said the move would allow the players to play for their football clubs, but it was unclear whether they could return to their careers as national players.



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