Inside Malaysia’s Football Forgery Scandal
KELANA JAYA, Malaysia - The FAM confirmed that FIFA has overturned three of Malaysia’s international match results from earlier this year. What were once celebrated moments of national pride are now officially 3-0 defeats.
The "ghost" losses include:
May 29: The 1-1 draw against Cape Verde.
Sept 4: The emotional 2-1 victory over rivals Singapore.
Sept 8: The hard-fought 1-0 win against Palestine.
Beyond the scorelines, FAM was slapped with a fresh fine of 10,000 Swiss francs (RM51,414), adding to a mounting debt of nearly RM2 million in international penalties.
The heart of the scandal lies in a failed gamble on "heritage players." Earlier this year, seven foreign-born stars including Facundo Garcés and Rodrigo Holgado were naturalized under the claim that they had Malaysian grandparents.
However, a FIFA investigation revealed a trail of falsified ancestry documents. Birth certificates claiming lineage in places like Penang and Sarawak were found to be forged; in reality, the players' roots traced back to Argentina, Brazil, and Spain, with no biological link to Malaysia.
In September, these seven players were handed 12-month global bans, and FAM was fined a staggering RM1.8 million. Today’s decision to void the matches they played in is the "second wave" of that disciplinary action.
The fallout has been swift and brutal. An Independent Investigation Committee (IIC), led by former Chief Justice Tun Md Raus Sharif, recently concluded that while they couldn't pinpoint the exact individual who forged the papers, there was a "serious failure of oversight" within FAM.
As the association prepares to take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a desperate final appeal, the public mood has turned. Fans are no longer just asking for wins; they are demanding a total "cleansing" of the association’s leadership.
“Malaysia is expected to plummet from its current spot of 116th as the forfeited points are deducted.”
For now, the roar of the tiger is silent, replaced by the rustle of legal papers and the somber realization that on the road to the 2027 Asian Cup, Malaysia’s toughest opponent wasn't on the field it was within its own ranks.