Malaysian football naturalisation scandal
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In September 2025, FIFA disciplinary committee imposed fines and suspensions on seven players who played for the Malaysia national football team. The world governing body alleged that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) provided forged documents for seven foreign-born players who later played for the Malaysia national football team.[1] FAM denied wrongdoing and appealed the sanctions. On 3 November, the FIFA Appeal Committee rejected Malaysia's appeal.[2]
In 2018, the Malaysia national football team dropped to 178th place in the FIFA rankings, its lowest ever ranking.[3] This prompted the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to begin scouting for "heritage players" or players of foreign origin who are asked to change their sporting nationality to play for the national team either through residency or Malaysian ancestry.[4]
Between 2018 and October 2025, 23 foreign-born footballers were granted Malaysian citizenship.[4][5]
Naturalisation of seven players
In January 2025, the Crown Prince of Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim announced that six to seven "heritage players" had been identified for possible inclusion in the national football team. He expressed hope that the Malaysian government would assist them in obtaining Malaysian passports to enable their participation in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.
Tunku Ismail also owns Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. (JDT), a club he heavily financed to assert dominance over Malaysian domestic football for more than a decade.[3] From March to June 2025, FAM processed the FIFA eligibility for seven players by submitting their birth certificates as well as those of their grandparents. FIFA cleared the players, who were ruled eligible to play for the Malaysian national team.[3][6]
The seven players were:
| Name | Non-Malaysian nationality |
|---|---|
| Facundo Garcés |  Argentina |
| Rodrigo Holgado | |
| Imanol Machuca | |
| João Figueiredo |  Brazil |
| Jon Irazabal |  Spain |
| Gabriel Palmero | |
| Hector Hevel |  Netherlands |
All featured in Malaysia's 4–0 win against Vietnam in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers third round Group F match on 10 June 2025; additionally, Hector Hevel also featured in the earlier 2–0 win over Nepal in the very same qualifiers. These players were also involved in three FIFA friendly matches.[4]
Malaysia has also claimed Nacho Méndez and Christian Abad as naturalized players of Malaysian descent. When the naturalization scandal involving the seven players later came to light, both of them drew attention, as their ancestral backgrounds were also questioned. Both have already obtained Malaysian citizenship. In fact, Abad had even participated in the Malaysia national football team’s training camp, alongside two players implicated in the scandal, namely Gabriel Palmero and Hector Hevel. The two were not swept up in the scandal mainly because they had not yet made their debut for the Malaysian national team.[7][8] This issue has also raised suspicion among many people regarding a number of naturalization processes carried out by Malaysia in previous years, such as the naturalization of two brothers from Spain, Natxo Insa and Kiko Insa.[9]
FIFA actions
FIFA received an anonymous complaint a day after the Vietnam game, disputing the eligibility of the seven players.[10] In August 2025, FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against FAM. This action was not known to the general public.[3]
On 26 September, FIFA imposed a fine of CHF 350,000 (approximately RM 1.9 million) on FAM, while the seven players received individual fines of CHF 2,000 (about RM 10,560) and a 12-month suspension from all football-related activities.[11] This was when the scandal became publicly known.[3]
FIFA released an official report on 6 October detailing falsifications concerning the players' eligibility, including the alleged birthplaces of their grandparents. While FAM claimed that the seven players had grandparents born in Malaysia, FIFA discovered that their grandparents had in fact been born in Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands.[12][13]
Additionally, FIFA expanded its investigation to determine if this was systemic amongst other naturalisations: if proven, Malaysia's wins against Nepal and Vietnam could potentially be overturned into two automatic 3–0 losses.[14]
On 3 November, FIFA dismissed FAM's appeal, with FAM immediately announcing that it would bring the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.[15] On 18 November, FIFA officially opened a criminal investigation, which will also involve the authorities and respective federations of Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands and Argentina, to investigate the forged documents.[16][17]
On 9 January 2026, CAS announced it would schedule hearing date in order to investigate the case, which involved representatives of Malaysia, as well as related parties like Spain, Brazil, Argentina and the Netherlands, whose citizens are involved in the scandal.[18] On 27 January 2026, however, CAS granted temporary suspension of FIFA ban for all seven players involved in the scheme, but noting that it does not mean the verdict has been issued; CAS will make the final decision, meaning the scandal effectively remains under investigation.[19] The first hearing came on 27 February, but a day later, the intended day for the verdict, CAS had unexpectedly delayed the announcement of final verdict for a week as they sought to collect further evidences before making the final announcement; additionally, relatives of the seven players might be soon invited to address the concerns and to verify wherever the files were legitimate or deliberately doctored by FAM.[20][21]
On 5 March, CAS dismissed FAM's appeal, while slightly eased the punishments against the players.[22] FAM announced that it respects the Court's decision and admitted its own "responsibility for oversight failures", however also considered the given sanctions to be "disproportionate, particularly when compared to sanctions imposed in similar cases", and was looking forward to examine the full Award to be issued in due course by the respective authority.[23]
Following the announcement of the verdict, the Asian Football Confederation announced it would conduct an investigation on FAM, and will issue a verdict in an undeclared date, under the supervision of FIFA and CAS.[24]
Overturned results
As a result of the scandal, FIFA overturned the results of three friendlies of Malaysia against Cape Verde, Singapore and Palestine into 0–3 defeats.[25] Following the March 2026 case dismissal from CAS, AFC also similarly overturned the results of the two qualification matches of Malaysia against Nepal and Vietnam into 0–3 defeats.[26] This effectively eliminated Malaysia and eventually qualified Vietnam for the 2027 tournament, disregarding the result of the final match between the two, which was scheduled at Thiên Trường exactly two weeks later.