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The Malaysian Football Association (Malaysia's football governing body) has declared it will appeal FIFA's ruling to sanction the organization for supposedly forging the citizenship documents of multiple overseas-born players, who have now been suspended from representing the country for one year.

FIFA's Claims and Penalties

In the ninth month, FIFA levied a fine of $438,000 on the Malaysian association and banned the footballers after finding that their ancestors were not Malaysian by birth as stated, but instead in the South American nation, the Brazilian nation, the European country and the Iberian nation. The global football authority reiterated its assertions about falsified papers in a official investigation report published on the start of the week.

Each of the individuals – who all took part in Malaysia's four-nil victory over the Vietnamese team in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifier this June – was also penalized $2,500.

The accused group includes born in Spain Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was originated in the Netherlands, and Figueiredo who was born Brazil.

The Governing Body's Stance on Document Falsification

"Forgery constitutes, pure and simple, a type of dishonesty," said FIFA in its findings.

"Forging documents undermines the heart of the fundamental principles of the sport, not only those regulating a athlete's qualification to represent a national team, but also the essential values of a fair game and the concept of sportsmanship," added a senior official, deputy chairperson of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

The Association's Reply and Challenge Strategy

FIFA's report states that the Malaysian association conceded it "was contacted by third parties regarding the players’ heritage and failed to independently verify the validity of the documentation."

"The original birth certificates indicated a stark difference to the submitted papers," it said.

FIFA also said it was "managed to acquire the relevant original documents easily," which revealed a "lack of proper diligence" by the Malaysian body.

The Football Association of Malaysia reacted to the global body's report in a official communication on the following day, asserting the discrepancies were the outcome of an "procedural mistake" and the individuals are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."

"Claims that the athletes 'obtained or were aware of fake documents' are unfounded as no concrete proof has been presented so far," the statement said.

The governing body will submit an formal challenge of the international body's ruling, using original documents that have been certified by the Malaysian government.

Regional Background and Official Responses

South-east Asian nations have recently pursued hiring campaigns for naturalised players, modelled after the Indonesian approach of bringing in Dutch-born players from the overseas community.

The country's sports minister, Hannah Yeoh, stated in a statement that "the football association must complete the appeal process and that they cannot remain silent but must respond clearly to all revelations from the global authority."

"Fans are upset, hurt and let down," she added.

Current Status and Upcoming Matches

Despite doubt regarding the squad's lineup, Malaysia is now placed one hundred twenty-third in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is set to compete in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup in the coming weeks, facing Laos on Thursday.