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The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has declared it will appeal FIFA's decision to penalize the body for supposedly falsifying the nationality papers of seven foreign-born players, who have now been suspended from playing for the country for one year.

The Global Football Body's Allegations and Penalties

In the ninth month, FIFA imposed a fine of $438,000 on the Malaysian association and banned the footballers after finding that their grandparents were not Malaysian by birth as claimed, but instead in the South American nation, the Brazilian nation, the European country and the Iberian nation. The global football governing body reiterated its claims about falsified papers in a disciplinary committee report published on the start of the week.

Each of the players – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil win over Vietnam in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this June – was also penalized twenty-five hundred dollars.

The accused individuals includes Spanish-born Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Iraurgui, born in Argentina Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Serrano who was born in the Holland, and Figueiredo who was hails from Brazil.

The Governing Body's Position on Forgery

"Document falsification represents, pure and simple, a type of dishonesty," said FIFA in its report.

"The act of forgery undermines the very core of the basic tenets of the sport, not only those governing a athlete's qualification to represent a country's squad, but also the core ethics of a fair game and the principle of sportsmanship," added a senior official, vice-chair of FIFA's ethics panel.

The Association's Response and Appeal Plan

The international body's document claims that the Malaysian association conceded it "was contacted by external agencies regarding the athletes' ancestry and failed to personally confirm the validity of the documentation."

"The original birth certificates showed a sharp contrast to the submitted papers," it said.

FIFA also mentioned it was "managed to acquire the relevant original documents easily," which revealed a "lack of proper diligence" by the Malaysian body.

FAM responded to the global body's allegations in a official communication on Tuesday, asserting the discrepancies were the outcome of an "procedural mistake" and the players are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."

"Claims that the athletes 'obtained or were knowledgeable of fraudulent papers' are baseless as no concrete proof has been provided to date," the announcement said.

The association will present an official appeal of the international body's decision, using original documents that have been verified by the national authorities.

Southeast Asian Background and Official Reactions

Southeast Asian nations have lately pursued recruitment drives for foreign-born athletes, modelled after Indonesia's strategy of recruiting Dutch-born players from the overseas community.

Malaysia's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, stated in a statement that "the football association must complete the challenge procedure and that they cannot remain silent but have to answer plainly to every disclosure made by FIFA."

"Supporters are angry, disappointed and disappointed," she remarked.

Present Situation and Upcoming Games

Despite uncertainty regarding the squad's lineup, the team is now placed one hundred twenty-third in FIFA's AFC ranking and is set to compete in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup this month, meeting the Laotian team on the upcoming Thursday.