Malaysian naturalized star makes a mistake about his origin, suspected of violating FIFA regulations

(Dan Tri) - Malaysian center back Facundo Garces became the center of suspicion when he suddenly made a slip of the tongue about his origin.

For a long time, the Indonesian press has continuously expressed doubts about the Malaysian team's illegal naturalization. Accordingly, the "Tigers" quickly naturalized Facundo Garces, Joao Figueiredo, Rodrigo Hogaldo, Jon Irazabal and Imanol Machuca to prepare for the Asian Cup qualifiers.

Facundo Garces claims his great-grandfather was Malaysian. This raises suspicions that Malaysia illegally naturalized the player (Photo: EFE).

Among them, suspicions focus on the case of Facundo Garces. This is a European-class player who plays for Alaves Club in La Liga (Spain). Currently, Facundo Garces is valued at 1.2 million euros by the transfer website Transfermarkt and is the most valuable player of the Malaysian team.

However, the origin of Facundo Garces has been a big topic of debate in Malaysia in recent days. No Malaysian newspaper has mentioned the origin of this Argentine-born midfielder.

Facundo Garces’ unclear blood relationship with Malaysia makes the story even more complicated. According to journalist Avinehwaran, Facundo Garces has a Malaysian grandmother. But this is only personal information and there is no document to verify it. The Malaysian Football Federation has not denied or confirmed the above information.

Recently, Facundo Garces further complicated the situation when he gave an interview to El Correo (Spain) about his Malaysian roots.

“I knew about my family background thanks to my great-grandfather (who is of Malaysian origin), but I never thought that one day I would have the opportunity to play for the Malaysian national team. They told me that they were building a very interesting football project, which really excited me,” the centre-back said.

Later, Facundo Garces corrected that his statement was misunderstood due to... a typing error (Photo: Instagram).

According to Kompas (Indonesia), Malaysia may have violated the regulations on naturalization of players. According to Article 7 on the status of national team representatives, FIFA only allows naturalization of foreign players who are related from grandparents (ie related within three generations). In case of connection to great-grandfather (through four generations) like Facundo Garces, FIFA will not approve.

Malaysia insists that all naturalizations are in compliance with FIFA requirements and regulations. However, if there is a complaint, the world's top football body can conduct an investigation. If proven to have violated the law, Malaysia could be banned from football for a number of years, as was the case with Timor Leste.

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has yet to comment on the matter. Meanwhile, Facundo Garces immediately “fixed the problem” with a post on his personal page: “This is a typo. I have a grandmother of Malaysian descent. I am honored to wear the national team jersey. See you again.”

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/sao-nhap-tich-malaysia-va-mieng-ve-goc-gac-bi-nghi-vi-pham-quy-dinh-fifa-20250820104303218.htm