Faiz Fadzil 🇲🇾

📍🟡 A summary of the 63-page motivated decision released by the FIFA Appeal Committee on the upholding of the sanctions against the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and 7 'heritage' Harimau Malaya players. 📌 FIFA rejected the narrative that the players were passive victims of an orchestrated scheme, noting that they showed complete disregard for personal responsibility and acted with gross negligence. 📌 FIFA also categorically rejected FAM's attempt to minimise the seriousness of its conduct by characterising the deliberate alteration of documents as mere "administrative adjustments". The body further highlighted FAM's failure to identify those responsible for the forgery even after several months have passed. 📌 The use of falsified documents also resulted in undue sporting gain for FAM and the players, FIFA said. It noted that the players actively participated in 5 international matches, including a Tier-1 friendly against Palestine on 8 September 2025. Malaysia had won the match 1-0, with the sole goal scored by one of the foreign-born players. 📌 "Had the disciplinary committee been able to examine all the materials now available in these appeal proceedings, the sanctions imposed on all the Appellants would be significantly higher," it concluded. FIFA stressed that forgery is a criminal offense in virtually all jurisdictions. 📌 On 26 Sept, FIFA fined FAM RM1.8 million and imposed a 12-month ban on 7 'heritage' players after uncovering irregularities in their registration documents. The players involved are: Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Tomas Garces, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal Iraurgui and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano. 🧵 1