The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) announced the suspension of its secretary general on Friday pending an investigation after FIFA said the country had cheated by fielding ineligible players.
Last month, FIFA suspended seven overseas-born players who all featured for Malaysia in a 2027 Asian Cup qualifier and fined FAM US$438,000, citing falsified or doctored documentation involving the players’ grandparents.
Malaysia beat Vietnam 4-0 in the June game.
Photo: AP
FAM vice president Sivasundaram Sithamparam Pillai said that the FAM has formed a committee to investigate the case.
He said that FAM secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman has been suspended so that the committee can carry out its probe independently. No FAM members would be on the committee, he said, but gave no further details.
“FAM maintains that these players were lawfully naturalized in accordance with Malaysian law,” he said. “FAM remains steadfast in our mission to uphold transparency, to protect Malaysian football’s reputation.”
The case has been a setback for Malaysian soccer at a time when former FAM president Hamidin bin Haji Mohd Amin sits on the 37-member FIFA Council.
Former Malaysian king Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was also a member of FIFA’s ruling committee from 2015 to 2019.
Serge Vittoz, an international sports lawyer representing FAM, said FIFA is set to make its decision on Malaysia’s appeal against the sanctions on Oct. 30.
He said the main contention of the appeal was that FAM and the seven players were not responsible for any forgery.
“There was no forgery on the side of the players. There was no forgery on the side of the FAM as an institution, and if any wrongdoing was done, it should be targeted to the person in question,” he said at a FAM news conference, without elaborating on who should be held responsible.
If unsuccessful, he said FAM would seek a reduction in its liability and might take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
In its report last month, FIFA said FAM had submitted forged documents saying the grandparents of the seven players were born in Malaysia — making them eligible to represent the country under FIFA’s nationality rules.
The committee said original certificates showed the said family members had been born in the same countries as the players: Argentina, Brazil, the Netherlands and Spain.
The FIFA report said that FAM admitted it “was contacted by external agencies regarding the players’ heritage and yet failed to independently verify the authenticity of the documentation.”
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
RSS