Laughing Stock – FIFA Rejects FAM’s Ridiculous “Grandfather Story” Appeal

Laughing Stock – FIFA Rejects FAM’s Ridiculous “Grandfather Story” Appeal


November 5th, 2025 by financetwitter



When FIFA President Gianni Infantino attended the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur in October 2025, there were concerns of hanky-panky, which might lead to a successful (or a partial successful) appeal by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) following an embarrassing document forgery scandal that has rocked Malaysian football. The timing and purpose had aroused suspicion.

And when FAM secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman, freshly suspended on October 17 to take responsibility for the scandal, was seen happily mingling and rubbing shoulders with top officials from FIFA, FAM and Sports Ministry during the ASEAN-FIFA Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony, it solidifies speculation that his suspension was merely a gimmick.


Exactly how could a disgraced FAM top gun, even if he was made to look like a scapegoat, be allowed by the Malaysian government to attend such a high-profile event despite the so-called suspension? He should at least be banned from all duties – both official and unofficial – related to football to make the punishment “drama” more believable. But in the “La La Land” of endless possibilities, fairy tales are like breakfast.

After all, Malaysia is the land where a professor – Dr Solehah Yaacob of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) – has claimed that “the Romans learned to build ships from the Malays”, never mind mind that the Roman Empire began as early as 700 BC. This is the same genius who also claims that Malays have perfected and taught the art of “flying kung fu” to the Chinese.

There were also incredible claims that the legendary Chinese martial arts expert – Bruce Lee – was mortally wounded from a single blow by a Malay “silat warrior”. The only thing they have yet to claim is China was once a colony of the Great Malay Empire and the first emperor of China – Qin Shi Huang – was actually a Malay. Perhaps they might also claim that China’s “Four Great Inventions” (papermaking, gunpowder, printing, and the compass) were all copied from the Malays.


However, fairy tales, cover-up, self-created history and forgery of naturalized football players for a short-cut fake glorification (and “syok sendiri” or pleased with oneself) can only bring you so far – till such cheating is discovered, exposed and humiliated the entire nation. After weeks in denial, finger-pointing, blame-shifting, whining, moaning and bitching, FAM has been given a red card on November 3.

FAM’s appeal has been rejected, as expected. World governing body FIFA has upheld a 350,000 Swiss franc (RM1.82 million) fine against FAM, while the seven dubious Malaysian players in question were fined 2,000 Swiss franc each and suspended from all football-related activities for 12 months. If indeed there was an attempt by the Anwar government to influence the FIFA’s decision, it didn’t work.

“After analysing the submissions and conducting a hearing, the Appeal Committee decided to dismiss the appeals, and to confirm in its entirety the following sanctions imposed upon FAM and the seven players. FAM and the players have been notified of the terms of the decision,” – the FIFA Appeal Committee said in a statement on November 3.

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), either shocked or pretends to be shocked, said it will be taking its case to an arbiter and expressed it was “very surprised by (FIFA’s) decision”. “FAM will write to FIFA to obtain full details and written reasons for the decision before taking the next step of appealing to the CAS,” – said its acting president Mohd Yusoff Mahadi.

While FAM and players have 10 days to request a detailed ruling from FIFA, and 21 days to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), an international independent tribunal represented by lawyers and retired judges, chances are low that its appeal will succeed. In 2024 alone, the CAS upheld 89.5% of FIFA’s decision in cases that came before the tribunal.



FAM has a better chance with the FIFA’s appeals tribunal than with the CAS. But Malaysia must first burn the midnight oil, which it didn’t, before appealing to FIFA with a convincing, compelling and foolproof reason why it should not be punished. To think it could get away with merely a lazy excuse that the FIFA’s decision was “inaccurate and unfounded” was a disaster from the beginning.

It was already bad that the appeals tribunal typically does not overturn decisions made by FIFA. It became worse when FAM did not take seriously its own punishment by allowing a suspended secretary-general roaming freely at a FIFA ceremony, behaving as if cheating and forgery were not a serious matter and its appeal would succeed just because FIFA President Gianni Infantino rubbed shoulders with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Even if FIFA wanted to help, probably by reducing its penalty on FAM for cheating, it simply can’t because eyebrows were already raised over FAM secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman’s special privilege, which was seen as a mockery and insult to the FIFA’s decision. It would be too obvious that corruption has taken place if the appeal succeeds, or is partially forgiven. FAM’s arrogance has backfired.

Malaysia’s troubles are not expected to end even after any appeals process with the FIFA tribunal and CAS that could stretch to late December. There could still be serious action against Malaysia from the AFC (Asian Football Confederation), which will only begin its own probes into the matter after the disciplinary process with FIFA is completed.

Should an investigation by AFC, which runs the Asian Cup, confirm Malaysia’s guilt, the country could be disqualified from participating in the 2027 Asian Cup. The Sports Ministry and FAM are caught with no good solution. If FAM does not appeal, it will be an admission of guilt. But if FAM appeals, it will most likely be found guilty again as it does not have a good defence story.




Worse, by going to the CAS just for the sake of trying to save face when FAM knew it would lose its appeal again, it could open a can of worms, as well as opening the room for Vietnam and Nepal to dispute Malaysia’s Asian Cup wins against the two countries. Prolonging the process will do more harm than good as millions of football fans around the world would laugh and mock the Malaysian football.

Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Idris, the man accused by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as the main player who is “above the law” responsible for the birth certificates fabrication, has only poured more fuel to the fire when he criticised the suspension, followed with a laughable accusation that FIFA’s rejection of FAM’s appeal was “politically motivated”.

Exactly what political gains would FIFA get by suspending the fake Malaysian players who do not look like any ethnic Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, or Kadazan? The more the “future Johor Sultan”, who led FAM from 2017 to 2018, tries to defend the indefensible, the more it makes FAM look guilty. Perhaps the royal house has forgotten that FIFA isn’t a puppet of FAM or the Johor state.

The scandal erupted on Sept 26, when seven naturalised players from Harimau Malaya – as the national team is nicknamed – were suspended by FIFA over the use of allegedly fake documents. Malaysia’s 4-0 victory over Vietnam in the Asian Cup third-round qualifier on June 10 – Malaysia’s first win against Vietnam in a decade – turned into a nightmare after Vietnam lodged a complaint regarding the eligibility of five of the players.

To cover up, FAM initially claimed that the penalties were due to procedural issues rather than serious wrongdoing. In response, FIFA released its grounds for the decision, showing that the grandparents of the players had been born in Spain, Argentina, Brazil and the Netherlands, and not in Malaysia as shown in fake documents submitted by the Football Association of Malaysia



The seven are: Spain-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui; Netherlands-born Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano; Argentina-born Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca; and Brazil-born Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo. Even after caught with its pants down, FAM still insists it was an “administrative error” and, as predicted, has blamed the mistake on its staff.

In a statement, FIFA said FAM had submitted forged documents to verify the eligibility of players, allowing them to be fielded in the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers against Vietnam on June 10. Therefore, FAM and seven heritage players were sanctioned by FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee after being found guilty of violating Article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code related to document forgery.

Apparently, FAM had falsely claimed that the grandparents of the seven had been born in places including Melaka, Penang, Johor and Sarawak. Unfortunately to FAM, the FIFA disciplinary committee’s secretariat was able to gather a copy of the “original birth certificate”. As it turned out, the original birth certificates of the grandparents contradicted the (fake) submitted documents.

Under FIFA rules, a naturalised player must not only hold a valid national passport, but also meet eligibility criteria. These include having a biological parent or a grandparent born in the country, or having lived there continuously for at least five years after the age of 10. In short, a player must at least have a grandparent born in the country if they wish to play for the national team.

Such rules were designed to prevent the abusive practice of “nationality shopping”, where a football association seeks players who have been overlooked in their home countries by offering them a financial incentive and new citizenship. Yet, despite the blatant cheating, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution declared that the naturalisation process for the players was done in full compliance with the law.



Worse, FIFA’s committee also revealed that Malaysia’s National Registration Department (NRD) “never received the original birth certificates”. The NRD is a department under Malaysia’s Ministry of Home Affairs responsible for determining citizenship status. Instead, the NRD issued its own copies based on secondary information and foreign documents from Argentina, Brazil and Spain.

The NRD further admitted that it could not retrieve the original handwritten records and therefore issued official copies based on evidence that a birth had occurred. This admission indicates that the Malaysian government’s validation process may not have been based on original documents, which calls into question the thoroughness of FAM’s verification process.

The best part is Imanol Javier Machuca, one of Malaysia’s seven “heritage” football players, has returned to his home country following his sanction and suspension by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). According to Argentine news outlet Sábado Vélez, Machuca had gone back to Argentina to rejoin his club, Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield.

Adding salt to the wound, FIFA’s latest decision to reject FAM’s appeal came less than a week after Argentine news publication Capital de Noticias published on Oct 31 a copy of the birth certificate of Garces’ grandfather, Carlos Rogelio Fernandez. According to its report, both Fernandez and his father were Argentine citizens born in Santa Fe in the country, despite FAM previously telling FIFA that Fernandez was born in Penang.

Trying to hoodwink FIFA with more lies, Mr Garces had on Sept 26 brushed off concerns over his ancestry, attributing his fake birth certificate to a clerical error. “I’m a Malaysian from my grandparents’ roots and I’m honoured to play for my country,” – Garces falsely claimed in an Instagram post that has since been deleted.




Likewise, Serrano’s grandfather Hendrik Jan Hevel was allegedly born in Melaka, but was found to have been born in The Hague in the Netherlands. Still, the burning question for the genius Home Minister Saifuddin is exactly how could the 25-year-old glorified Malaysian player – Imanol Javier Machuca – be allowed dual citizenship, when the law clearly forbids a citizen from holding another nationality?

Malaysia does not recognise dual citizenship, so if they retain their Argentine, Brazilian, or Spanish nationality, their Malaysian citizenship is automatically void. The Anwar Madani government must clarify whether these foreigners, having given citizenships even though they did not qualify for one, are given special privilege to hold dual citizenship – a practice of double standard.