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The Malaysian Football Association (Malaysia's football governing body) has declared it will contest FIFA's decision to sanction the body for supposedly forging the nationality papers of seven foreign-born players, who have now been banned from representing the national team for 12 months.

The Global Football Body's Claims and Fines

In the ninth month, FIFA imposed a fine of $438,000 on the Malaysian association and banned the players after finding that their ancestors were not born in Malaysia as stated, but instead in Argentina, Brazil, the European country and Spain. The international football authority restated its claims about falsified documentation in a disciplinary committee report released on Monday.

Each of the players – who all participated in Malaysia's four-nil win over Vietnam in the qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup this June – was also fined $2,500.

The accused group includes Spanish-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, born in Argentina Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo who was hails from the South American country.

The Governing Body's Position on Document Falsification

"Document falsification constitutes, plain and simple, a type of dishonesty," stated FIFA in its report.

"The act of forgery strikes at the very core of the basic tenets of the sport, not only those regulating a player’s eligibility to represent a country's squad, but also the essential values of a fair game and the concept of sportsmanship," commented a senior official, deputy chairperson of FIFA's ethics panel.

The Association's Response and Challenge Strategy

FIFA's report claims that the Malaysian association admitted it "was contacted by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and failed to personally confirm the validity of the papers."

"The original birth certificates indicated a stark difference to the documentation provided," it noted.

The organization also said it was "managed to acquire the authentic papers without hindrance," which revealed a "failure in due diligence" by the Malaysian body.

The Football Association of Malaysia reacted to the global body's allegations in a statement on Tuesday, asserting the inconsistencies were the outcome of an "procedural mistake" and the players are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."

"Claims that players 'acquired or were aware of fraudulent papers' are baseless as no solid evidence has been presented to date," the announcement declared.

The association will submit an official appeal of the international body's decision, using original documents that have been verified by the national authorities.

Regional Context and Political Reactions

Southeast Asian nations have lately engaged in recruitment drives for foreign-born athletes, inspired by the Indonesian approach of recruiting Dutch-born footballers from the Indonesian diaspora.

Malaysia's minister for sports, the official, said in a statement that "FAM must complete the appeal process and that they cannot remain silent but must respond clearly to every disclosure made by the global authority."

"Fans are upset, disappointed and disappointed," she added.

Current Status and Upcoming Matches

Regardless of uncertainty surrounding the national team's composition, the team is now ranked 123rd in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to compete in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup this month, meeting Laos on the upcoming Thursday.