In September 2025, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee fined the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and imposed fines and 12-month suspensions on seven foreign-born players of the Malaysia national football team. FIFA found that the players' eligibility rested on forged documents that claimed their grandparents were born in Malaysia; the grandparents had in fact been born in Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands. The players had been naturalised as Malaysian citizens under FAM's recruitment of "heritage players", which began after the national team fell to its lowest FIFA ranking in 2018.
FAM denied wrongdoing and appealed the sanctions. The FIFA Appeal Committee rejected it on 3 November 2025, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed a further appeal on 5 March 2026, while slightly easing the players' punishments. FIFA overturned the results of three of Malaysia's friendlies into 0–3 defeats, and the Asian Football Confederation did the same to the team's wins over Nepal and Vietnam in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, which eliminated Malaysia from the tournament. The scandal put FAM and government agencies responsible for citizenship approvals under public scrutiny. In July 2026, the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission reported irregularities in the approval of the players' citizenship.
Background In March 2018, the Malaysia national football team dropped to 178th place in the FIFA rankings, its lowest ever ranking. 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. Between 2018 and October 2025, 23 foreign-born footballers were granted Malaysian citizenship.
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 (JDT), a club he financed for more than a decade. 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.
The seven players were: NameNon-Malaysian nationalityFacundo Garcés Rodrigo HolgadoImanol MachucaJoão Figueiredo Jon Irazabal Gabriel PalmeroHector Hevel 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.
Malaysia has also claimed Nacho Méndez and Christian Abad as naturalized players of Malaysian descent. When the naturalization scandal came to light, their ancestral backgrounds were also questioned. Both have already obtained Malaysian citizenship. In fact, Abad had participated in the Malaysia national football team’s training camp, alongside Palmero and Hevel. However, neither Mendez nor Abad were caught up in the scandal, mainly because they had not yet made their debut for the Malaysian national team. This issue has also raised suspicion regarding a number of naturalization processes carried out by Malaysia in previous years, such as the naturalization of Natxo and Kiko Insa.
FIFA actions FIFA received an anonymous complaint a day after the Vietnam game, disputing the eligibility of the seven players. In August 2025, FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against FAM. This action was not known to the general public. 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 football-related activities. This was when the scandal became publicly known.
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. Additionally, FIFA expanded its investigation to determine if this was systemic amongst other naturalisations.
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. On 18 November, FIFA opened investigation involving the respective federations of Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands and Argentina. On 9 January 2026, CAS announced it would schedule the hearing.https://e.vnexpress.net/news/sports/football/cas-to-announce-hearing-date-for-malaysia-naturalized-players-scandal-case-5003456.html 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.https://e.vnexpress.net/news/sports/football/7-sanctioned-malaysia-naturalized-players-allowed-to-play-again-after-cas-approval-5010278.html The first hearing came on 27 February, but a day later CAS had delayed the announcement as they sought to collect further evidences.https://e.vnexpress.net/news/sports/football/cas-delays-ruling-on-malaysia-naturalized-players-scandal-5044815.htmlhttps://e.vnexpress.net/news/sports/football/relatives-of-ineligible-malaysia-naturalized-players-may-testify-in-court-sports-lawyer-5045042.html On 5 March, CAS dismissed FAM's appeal. FAM announced that it respects the Court's decision and admitted its own "responsibility for oversight failures", however considered the given sanctions to be "disproportionate, particularly when compared to sanctions imposed in similar cases". Following the announcement, the Asian Football Confederation announced it would conduct an investigation on FAM, under the supervision of FIFA and CAS.https://e.vnexpress.net/news/sports/football/what-will-happen-to-malaysian-football-after-cas-s-rejection-of-naturalization-appeal-5048894.html
Overturned results As a result of the scandal, FIFA overturned the results of three friendlies of Malaysia (Cape Verde, Singapore and Palestine) into 0–3 defeats. Following the March 2026 case dismissal from CAS, AFC also overturned the results of the two qualification matches. This effectively eliminated Malaysia and qualified Vietnam for the 2027 tournament, disregarding the result of the final match between the two.
EAIC investigation On 10 July 2026, the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC), which investigates misconduct complaints against Malaysian enforcement agencies, said it had found irregularities in the approval of the seven players' citizenship. The inquiry followed a complaint against the National Registration Department (NRD). A special task force, formed under Section 17 of the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission Act 2009, investigated the NRD and the Immigration Department, the two agencies under the Ministry of Home Affairs that process entry permits and applications for citizenship by naturalisation. It examined documents held by the ministry, the NRD, the Immigration Department, the Royal Malaysia Police and FAM, and recorded statements from fifteen officers under investigation and five members of the public.
The commission said the Federal Constitution gives the home affairs minister the power to consider applications for citizenship by naturalisation under Article 19. The minister had exercised this discretion to grant the players special approval on the basis of their potential contribution to Malaysian football. The approval was granted under Article 19(2), read together with Section 20(1)(e) of Part III of the Second Schedule, which allows the minister to count periods spent outside Malaysia as residence in the country. The task force concluded, however, that the requirements for the special approvals had been assessed "within an extremely short period and in an irregular manner". It identified four issues: irregularities in the issuance of the players' entry permits, including the interviews and security screening conducted by the Immigration Department; problems in the department's handling of security vetting and in the Malay language proficiency test administered by the NRD; the absence of confirmation from the players' home countries that they had renounced their original citizenship; and the players' failure to surrender their foreign passports to the Immigration Department.
The EAIC recommended that the NRD and the ministry review the entire naturalisation process and the documents of the seven players. It called for guidelines on the exercise of ministerial discretion that give weight to residency in Malaysia as a basis for citizenship. It also proposed standard operating procedures for citizenship approvals under Article 19(2) and for the renunciation of original citizenship. Because the constitution does not recognise dual citizenship, the commission said, the NRD should set a deadline for proof of renunciation and penalties for failure to comply. The commission further recommended guidelines on the Registrar-General's discretionary power to issue birth certificates under Section 10A of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957, a power it said should be used only after due diligence, and urged the Immigration Department, the NRD and the police to draw up stricter security screening procedures. It described naturalisation as a matter of national interest and security and said its report had been submitted to the ministry, the Immigration Department and the NRD for further action.
The EAIC said police reports had been lodged over the alleged forgery of the documents, which CAS had found to be falsified, and that the matter fell outside its jurisdiction and should be investigated by the relevant authorities.
Reactions Even before the fallout from the Vietnamese match, the origin of Malaysia's naturalized players had been widely speculated due to their "unusual" origin, especially when Malaysia has very limited historical and cultural ties to the Hispanic and Latino American region for conceiving heritage players. Shortly before FIFA's announcement of sanctions, Facundo Garcés allegedly responded to the press that he got his Malaysian heritage from his great-grandparent, which is technically a violation of FIFA's eligibity on heritage players. He quickly clarified that it was "transcription error", before being officially identified as using forged documents in authorities' investigations.
The scandal put FAM as well as the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Registration Department (NRD), the government agencies responsible for handling Malaysian citizenship, under scrutiny from Malaysian football fans and legislators. FAM acknowledged "technical errors" on the document submissions, but maintained that the seven players are Malaysian citizens.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that the issue was regarding the seven players' compliance under FIFA eligibility rules, rather than their citizenship, adding that birth certificates are not required for naturalisation under Malaysia's Constitution, and maintained that the players satisfied the prerequisites required to obtain citizenship, which includes good conduct, the required residency period, and Malaysian Malay proficiency using ministerial discretion on residency requirements.