Will Cambodia include their Uzbekistan origin Alisher Mirzayev in the national football squad?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Visakha midfielder has accepted Cambodian citizenship, making him eligible to represent the Kingdom in future international football competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FIFA had approved his request to switch international allegiance to Cambodia on November 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mirzayev joined Visakha in 2020 and has since become one of the team’s regulars. Visakha, are currently seventh in the Cambodian Premier League with 12 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 29-year-old had represented the Uzbekistan national U-16 and U-20 national teams and was seen as a potential senior team player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If he is called up, his first appearance will likely be during the March FIFA international break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mirzayev\u2019s eligibility comes at a time when ASEAN neighbours Malaysia are embroiled in their controversial inclusion of heritage players in the Asian Cup qualifiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Football Association of Malaysia was ordered to pay a fine of CHF 350,000 to FIFA for their breaches of article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) concerning forgery and falsification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The concerned players – Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tom\u00e1s Garc\u00e9s, Rodrigo Juli\u00e1n Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Jo\u00e3o Vitor Brand\u00e3o Figueiredo, Jon Iraz\u00e1bal Iraurgui and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano were each ordered to pay a fine of CHF 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The aforementioned players were also further sanctioned with a 12-month suspension from all football-related activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike Mirzayev, the seven players were given fast track citizenship by Malaysia to make eligibility as heritage players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Will Cambodia include their Uzbekistan origin Alisher Mirzayev in the national football squad? The Visakha midfielder has accepted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,7],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-6452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-newsbeat","tag-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t