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The Football Association of Malaysia (Malaysia's football governing body) has declared it will contest FIFA's ruling to penalize the organization for allegedly falsifying the nationality papers of seven overseas-born players, who have now been suspended from representing the national team for one year.

FIFA's Allegations and Penalties

In the ninth month, FIFA imposed a fine of $438,000 on FAM and suspended the footballers after finding that their ancestors were not Malaysian by birth as claimed, but rather in Argentina, the Brazilian nation, the Netherlands and Spain. The international football governing body restated its assertions about doctored papers in a disciplinary committee report published on Monday.

Each of the individuals – who all participated in Malaysia's 4-0 victory over Vietnam in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this June – was also fined twenty-five hundred dollars.

The accused individuals includes Spanish-born Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, born in Argentina Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Holland, and Figueiredo who was hails from Brazil.

FIFA's Stance on Forgery

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

"The act of forgery strikes at the very core of the fundamental principles of football, not only those regulating a player’s eligibility to represent a country's squad, but also the essential values of a clean sport and the principle of sportsmanship," added Jorge Palacio, deputy chairperson of FIFA's ethics panel.

The Association's Response and Appeal Plan

FIFA's report states that the Malaysian association admitted it "received inquiries by third parties regarding the players’ heritage and failed to independently verify the validity of the documentation."

"Initial documentation indicated a sharp contrast to the documentation provided," it noted.

FIFA also mentioned it was "able to obtain the authentic papers easily," which highlighted a "failure in due diligence" by FAM.

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

"Claims that players 'obtained or were aware of fraudulent papers' are baseless as no solid evidence has been presented so far," the statement said.

The governing body will present an formal challenge of the international body's ruling, using authentic papers that have been verified by the national authorities.

Southeast Asian Background and Official Responses

South-east Asian countries have recently pursued hiring campaigns for naturalised players, modelled after the Indonesian approach of recruiting Dutch-born footballers from the overseas community.

The country's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, said in a statement that "FAM must complete the appeal process and that they cannot remain silent but must respond clearly to all revelations made by FIFA."

"Fans are angry, hurt and disappointed," she added.

Current Situation and Upcoming Games

Regardless of doubt regarding the squad's lineup, Malaysia is now placed one hundred twenty-third in FIFA's AFC ranking and is set to play in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup this month, meeting Laos on the upcoming Thursday.