Regional press criticizes FAM for being careless and irresponsible in approving player naturalization

FIFA released detailed evidence showing that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) used fake documents in the process of naturalizing seven players, causing Southeast Asian media to criticize FAM's negligence and lack of transparency in management.

On October 7, regional media such as Kompas (Indonesia) and Thairath (Thailand) simultaneously published information about the conclusion of FIFA's investigation, thereby confirming that FAM had submitted forged documents to legalize the playing status of seven naturalized players in the Malaysian national team.

According to Kompas , FIFA confirmed that it had no difficulty in finding the original documents of the seven players' grandparents, which shows a serious lack of verification and caution from FAM in the document processing process.

Regional press commented that this scandal seriously affected the development efforts of Malaysian football.

PHOTO: NGOC LINH

FIFA's investigation was opened shortly after Malaysia's 4-0 win over Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on June 10, 2025, when the agency received an official complaint about the "unusual and rapid" naturalization process.

Thairath: "FAM faces the risk of losing the matches they have played"

Meanwhile, Thairath newspaper (Thailand) described this as "an investigation that shook Southeast Asian football", with the possibility of Malaysia having to suffer serious consequences.

According to the newspaper, FIFA confirmed that FAM had edited the birthplace of the players' grandparents – from Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands to "Malaysian" – to make them eligible to play.

FAM careless or dishonest?

According to regional newspapers, the incident is not just an administrative error but shows signs of systematic fraud in FAM's player naturalization process.

Kompas used the words "lack of meticulousness and irresponsibility" when talking about the process of FAM verifying the origin and handling the naturalization of players and said that this scandal will seriously affect the reputation of Malaysian football, which is in the process of reforming and increasing the naturalization of players to improve international performance.

FAM announced that it will appeal and pursue to the end but has not yet provided evidence about the origin of the players.

CNN Indonesia published the details of the birthplaces of each player found to be in violation. For example, Gabriel Felipe Arrocha's grandparents were born in Santa Cruz de la Palma, Spain, but were changed to Melaka, Malaysia. Or Facundo Tomás Garcés' grandparents were born in Villa Maria Selva, Santa Fe de la Cruz, Argentina, but were changed to Penang, Malaysia;...

FIFA easily detects fake profiles

According to the published conclusion, FIFA collected copies of the players’ grandparents’ original birth certificates and found that none of them were born in Malaysia as the records provided by FAM. On the contrary, their actual origins were determined to be from Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands.

Documents submitted by FAM to FIFA earlier confirmed that the grandparents of all seven players were Malaysian, qualifying them to play for the national team under the "blood relationship" rule.

However, FIFA's investigation results proved that this was a systematically edited file, and FAM did not carry out an independent appraisal process or verify with civil authorities before submitting the documents.

FIFA releases evidence of FAM fraud: Where are the origins of all 7 naturalized players?

According to FIFA regulations, a player can only represent a national team if at least one of his grandparents was born in that country. Deliberately changing family origin information is a violation of Article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) on forgery and falsification of documents.

FAM has said it will appeal and pursue legal measures to the end, but has not yet provided evidence to prove the true origin of the naturalized players.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bao-chi-khu-vuc-chi-trich-fam-thieu-can-trong-vo-trach-nhiem-khi-xet-duyet-nhap-tich-cau-thu-185251007113609101.htm