Kuala Lumpur, โฃMalaysia โฃ – Football Association of Malaysia โ(FAM) officialsโ deliberately altered birth certificatesโค andโ supporting documents related to the naturalization of seven players,โค according to a writen decisionโ released โby the FIFA Appeals Committee. The revelation comesโฃ after โFIFA โsanctioned โคFAM and โฃtheโค players in โlate September 2025, stemming from โthe use of falsified documents during a World โขCup qualifying match against Vietnam โขon Juneโค 10th.
The manipulation of data occurred while awaiting official confirmation from โขthe Malaysian government, the FIFA Appeals Committee stated. FAM maintained the changes were โฃadministrative โคin โขnature and not intendedโฃ to replace official records or bypass verification processes, and that neither the executive โฃcommittee โnor Secretary General Datuk โNoor Azman Rahman were aware of the alterations.โข The seven naturalized players themselves were โขalso reportedly โunaware theirโข data had beenโฃ changed.
FAM Secretary General Noor Azman Rahman confessed to the alterations, stating, “I โคadmit members of the FAM governance โฃhandled and reformatted several copies of birthโ certificates andโ supporting โdocumentsโค while โคcompilingโข complete eligibilityโฃ files.This includes changed content in the certificate provided by the agent. These steps are administrative in nature and โare not intended to replace the โคofficial โcopy or any official verification process.”
Despiteโข acknowledging the โขdata changes, FAM appealed to FIFA, arguing that โขthe alterations did not automatically imply obligation. The association also โฃclaimed the actionsโข were not part of a broader scheme to deceive theโ system.
FIFA’s examination โrevealedโ thatโค while FAM โคsubmitted โdocumentation claiming the players’ grandparents were Malaysian, official records โคindicated the grandparents were born in Spain, Argentina, Brazil, and theโ Netherlands. โฃFIFA eligibility rules allow players to represent a country if they, orโ their parents โขor โขgrandparents, were born there. โ
The sanctions imposed by FIFA have not been publicly detailed, but โคthe case raises serious questions about the integrity of player eligibility processes within โขMalaysian football and the potential for similar issues in other national associations.
