{"id":8944,"date":"2026-02-04T21:57:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=8944"},"modified":"2026-02-04T21:57:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:57:05","slug":"february-26-d-day-for-fam-and-naturalised-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/february-26-d-day-for-fam-and-naturalised-players\/","title":{"rendered":"February 26 D-day for FAM and naturalised players"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Football Association of Malaysian (FAM) and seven naturalised players will know their fate at the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 26th<\/sup> February this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CASA has fixed the date to hear the appeals from the FAM and the players who are embroiled in a controversy that had rocked Malaysia in recent months. The entire FAM executive council had also tendered their resignation recently in the wake of the scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIFA had implicated the FAM in the scandal involving forged documents used to naturalize seven foreign-born players for the national team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following findings of falsified documentation for a 2025 Asian Cup qualifier, FIFA fined FAM 350,000 Swiss francs and imposed 12-month bans on the players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seven players sanctioned were Facundo Garc\u00e9s, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Jo\u00e3o Figueiredo, Gabriel Palmero, Jon Irazabal, and H\u00e9ctor Hevel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The players were initially barred from playing for 12 months but were given a reprieve earlier this month until the case if disposed of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIFA accused FAM of “doctoring” birth certificates to make it appear as though foreign-born players had grandparents from Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAM has stated that the discrepancies arose from an “administrative error,” insisting the players are “legitimate Malaysian citizens”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Football Association of Malaysian (FAM) and seven naturalised players will know their fate at the Court of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5560,"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":[7],"tags":[337,63],"class_list":["post-8944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-cas","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