Malaysia announces squad, naturalized players unexpectedly eliminated

Striker Imanol Machuna is an Argentine player who appeared in the match between the Malaysian team and the Vietnamese team on June 10, within the framework of the third qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup.

In this training session, coach Peter Cklamovski (Australian of Macedonian origin) of the Malaysian team did not call up the player currently playing for Velez Sarsfield Club (Argentina), without giving a clear reason.

Malaysia công bố đội hình, cầu thủ nhập tịch bất ngờ bị loại - 1 — The Malaysian football team eliminated some naturalized players during the training session to prepare for the FIFA Days matches in September (Photo: NST).

Imanol Machuna has only played for the Malaysian national team once, in the match against the Vietnamese national team on June 10.

On the contrary, the player who had a "bad mouth" not long ago, center back Facundo Garces (Argentine origin, currently playing for Alaves Club, Spain) is still on the list.

Facundo Garces has been inconsistent about his Malaysian roots (sometimes he attributes it to his great-grandfather, other times to his grandfather), later blaming paperwork.

Another notable thing is that the Malaysian team did not add any naturalized players (counting those who have never been called up), although not long ago, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) had been planning this.

Malaysia công bố đội hình, cầu thủ nhập tịch bất ngờ bị loại - 2 — Midfielder Endrick, currently playing in V-League (playing for CA HCMC Club), is on the list of the Malaysian national team (Photo: D.V).

The list of 29 Malaysian players has only 6 people playing abroad, including midfielder Endrick (Malaysian of Brazilian origin) currently playing for Ho Chi Minh City Police Club.

FAM itself is currently undergoing a major upheaval. President Datuk Joehari Ayub has resigned due to health reasons, just six months after he took the top job at the Football Association of Malaysia.

Datuk Joehari Ayub was once the strongest supporter of the policy of mass naturalization of players for the Malaysian national team. However, because of this policy, Datuk Joehari Ayub in particular and FAM in general received a lot of backlash from the Malaysian football community and fans.

Many Malaysian football fans also asked FAM to publicly disclose the origins of naturalized players.

The Malaysian team will have two international friendly matches in September, against Singapore on September 4 (at Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur) and against Palestine on September 8 (at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, Johor).