Does Malaysia naturalize players illegally?
In the 4-0 victory over Vietnam on June 10 in the second round of the third qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup, the Malaysian team introduced 5 brand new naturalized players. Before the match, FAM also said that they had been confirmed by FIFA that these players were fully naturalized and eligible to compete.
Does Malaysian football really naturalize players illegally? - Photo: Ngoc Linh
They are 3 players of Argentine origin, 1 of Spanish origin and 1 of Brazilian origin. They are Imanol Machuca, Rodrigo Holgado, Facundo Garces, Jon Irazabal and Joao Figueiredo respectively.
Regarding these naturalized players, the Malaysian newspaper, New Straits Times, once reported that Southeast Asian fans, including from Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, questioned their legality and asked FIFA to investigate. Many public opinions also doubted the origin of these naturalized players with unclear Malaysian origins.
However, FAM confidently asserted that they did nothing wrong and always followed all FIFA regulations. This football agency also announced that FIFA had recognized the number of naturalized players and qualified to play before the match against the Vietnamese team, but did not announce further details.
The latest naturalized players helped the Malaysian team have a dominant match and win 4-0 against the Vietnamese team to secure a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup finals.
The Malaysian team breathed a sigh of relief when defenders Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel (13, in the photo), who are naturalized players, were rescued from unemployment by Johor Darul Ta'zim Club - Photo: Ngoc Linh
This incident seemed to have calmed down since the match between Malaysia and Vietnam on June 10. However, recently, the Indonesian newspaper, Disway ID, said that they had a reliable source confirming that FIFA, through a meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, had specifically named FAM as seriously violating the player naturalization process. Similarly, the AFC also confirmed the incident.
However, there is currently no official information from FAM and Malaysian newspapers confirming the above incident is true. FAM has also not commented on the information from Indonesian newspapers.
Meanwhile, Disway ID believes that if the Malaysian team cheats on naturalizing players, FAM will face extremely severe penalties from FIFA. These include the team being banned from all FIFA tournaments, including the AFF Cup in Southeast Asia; canceling the results of matches with naturalized players, such as the 4-0 win over Vietnam, which could result in a 0-3 loss; a fine of at least 2 million USD (about 52.1 billion VND); a ban on recruiting and naturalizing players for 5 years, re-auditing all player data in FAM's organizational structure; firing related FAM officials...
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thuc-hu-malaysia-nhap-tich-cau-thu-trai-phep-thang-doi-viet-nam-bi-fifa-xu-phat-185250630111424638.htm
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