Malaysia team received heavy penalties from FIFA, AFC for fraudulent naturalization to beat Vietnam?

There have been many rumors circulating on social media that the Malaysian team will be heavily punished by FIFA and AFC due to fraudulent acts in naturalization.

Rumors spread that the Malaysian team was heavily fined for "cheating" during the naturalization process - Photo: Instagram

The story of naturalization in Malaysian football has been around for a long time, but has never been as loud as in 2025. In just the past half year, the Malaysian team has naturalized dozens of players, many of whom have nothing to do with Malaysian origin.

Thanks to this massive naturalization, the Malaysian team had a devastating 4-0 victory over the Vietnamese team on June 10 in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. However, recently there have been many rumors that Malaysia will be severely punished by FIFA and AFC for cheating in the naturalization process.

Tvonenews reported: "The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has been severely punished by FIFA for allegedly seriously violating the naturalization process of mixed-race players." Disway ID also headlined: "FIFA and AFC officially punish the Football Association of Malaysia for naturalization, ASEAN countries receive warnings."

Disway ID also wrote: "The scandal first emerged in early 2025 after international media from the UK and Japan conducted an in-depth investigation. They suspected the origins of some foreign players who were suddenly added to the Malaysian team in matches against Vietnam and Japan.

These players, who are often from second-tier clubs in Europe, especially England, the Netherlands and France, surprisingly received Malaysian citizenship in just a few months. In fact, most of them are not of Malaysian descent, have never lived in the neighboring country and do not meet the minimum five-year residency requirement as stipulated by FIFA and AFC.

The investigation uncovered evidence of document forgery, false declaration of origin and manipulation of family data. A prominent example was the case of Daren J Rizal, a player whose grandmother was said to be from Johor.

However, the identity of the player's grandmother turned out to be a fabrication by a service company linked to an international player agent... FAM violated Article 7 regarding player status. AFC also accused the Football Association of Malaysia of losing the spirit of fair play and the integrity of the tournament."

The above information has not been officially confirmed by FIFA, AFC or Malaysia. Malaysian mainstream newspapers have not mentioned this.

In the event that the Football Association of Malaysia is punished, the Malaysian national team will be disqualified from all FIFA and AFC competitions until 2027, including the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the 2027 Asian Cup and regional events such as the AFF Cup. All match results involving illegally naturalized players will be voided, including the 4-0 win over Vietnam.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tuyen-malaysia-nhan-an-phat-nang-tu-fifa-afc-vi-nhap-tich-gian-doi-de-thang-viet-nam-20250630091753918.htm