AFC announces readiness to handle Malaysia's loss to Vietnam

FIFA is likely to postpone the decision on the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) until October 31, but the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has made an important announcement, showing the great danger that the Malaysian team is facing.

AFC General Secretary Windsor John is Malaysian - Photo: AFC

On the afternoon of October 30, while FAM was still anxiously waiting for the decision from the FIFA Appeal Committee, AFC General Secretary Windsor John made statements that were not beneficial to Malaysian football.

"Whether it is a decision by the FIFA Appeal Committee or the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), we will still consider it final.

Once the decision is finalised, the case file will be passed to the AFC for review and we will act in accordance with FIFA's decision, as well as the decisions of the AFC's matches.

The AFC Disciplinary Committee will then review the case file to determine what points have been violated. So it depends on which case file FIFA has returned to the AFC," said Windsor John.

In mid-October, the AFC announced that it would only sanction Malaysian football after FAM failed in its appeal process.

According to regulations, if FAM still receives a penalty from the FIFA Appeal Committee, they can bring the case to CAS in the next 1-2 months.

With the latest announcement, AFC corrected this information, saying that they are ready to punish FAM as soon as the FIFA Appeal Committee makes a decision. Of course, if FAM sues CAS and reverses the situation, AFC will also have to change its decision.

"We have to remember that there are two files of the case — one through the Disciplinary Committee, and one through the FIFA Football Tribunal. So there will be two decisions.

But for us at AFC, we only look at penalties that come from the character of the players, because that is an AFC issue," added Mr. Windsor John.

The AFC Secretary General's point is that if FIFA confirms that Malaysia fielded illegal players in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, the AFC has the right to sanction them, and not look at the entire case file.

For most of his speech, Mr. Windsor John still used a complete way of speaking, not asserting anything. But it can be seen that the AFC Secretary General assumed the case of FAM being punished by FIFA.

It is important to note that Mr. Windsor John is a Malaysian. When the scandal broke out, the AFC General Secretary caused a huge controversy when he said that "the Malaysian team may not receive any punishment".

But with the subsequent developments, Mr. Windsor John admitted that the AFC would likely lose the Malaysia team in matches where they used illegal players, including the match against Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.

When publishing Mr. Windsor John's speech, the New Straits Times even headlined: "AFC will impose sanctions after FIFA decides to punish FAM", showing that the possibility of FAM losing the appeal is very high.

And also in this article, New Straits Times said that it may not be until October 31 that the FIFA Appeal Committee officially concludes the case.

On the evening of September 26, FIFA announced that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) had falsified documents to naturalize 7 foreign players, putting them on the registration list to compete in the match against Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on June 10.

The 7 players include Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces, Rodrigo Julian Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal Iraurgui and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano.

FIFA fined FAM 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 million), while the seven players were each fined 2,000 Swiss francs and banned from all football activities for 12 months.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/afc-ra-thong-bao-san-sang-xu-malaysia-thua-viet-nam-20251030143753341.htm