KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) will begin the process of taking the case regarding the eligibility of their seven heritage players to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Its acting president Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi said this is to ensure justice is upheld and to defend the integrity of the players’ eligibility process as stipulated by the government and the relevant authorities.
"FAM would like to state that we have received the full written reasoning behind Fifa's decision to reject the association's appeal in connection with the eligibility of the seven heritage players.
"FAM remain committed to defending the rights of players who are eligible to represent the country, and will ensure that every action is taken professionally, transparently and in accordance with appropriate legal channels,” said in a post on FAM's Facebook page today.
In its written decision today, the Fifa Appeal Committee said that attempts to forge documentation to deceive governing bodies and circumvent applicable regulations constitute a serious violation of the rules.
Such conduct undermines the fairness of the game, erodes public confidence, and cannot, under any circumstances, be tolerated.
In addition to upholding the penalty imposed on FAM and the seven players involved, it instructed its secretariat to take immediate steps to launch a formal investigation into the national governing body's internal operations.
The Fifa Appeal Committee also revealed that all seven heritage players were born abroad.
It said that Gabriel Felipe Arrocha was born in Santa Cruz de la Palma, Spain; Facundo Garces (Santa Fe, Argentina); Rodrigo Holgado (Buenos Aires, Argentina); Imanol Manchuca (Rosario, Argentina); Joao Figueiredo (Sao Paolo, Brazil); Jon Irazabal (Bilbao, Spain), and Hector Hevel (Leidschendam, the Netherlands).
On November 3, Fifa rejected appeals by FAM and the seven naturalised players.
The Appeal Committee upheld the penalty imposed by the Disciplinary Committee of the world governing body against FAM and the seven naturalised players for offences related to the falsification of documents under Article 22 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code.
Consequently, FAM was ordered to pay a fine of 350,000 Swiss francs (approximately RM1.8 million), while each player was fined 2,000 Swiss francs (about RM11,000). The seven players were also suspended for 12 months from football-related activities.
