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The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has announced it will contest FIFA's decision to sanction the body for allegedly 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 Allegations and Penalties

In September, FIFA levied a fine of $438,000 on FAM and banned the footballers after discovering that their grandparents were not born in Malaysia as claimed, but rather in Argentina, Brazil, the European country and Spain. The global football governing body reiterated its assertions about falsified documentation in a official investigation report published on Monday.

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

The implicated individuals includes born in Spain Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, born in Argentina Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, as well as Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano who was born in the Netherlands, and Figueiredo who was hails from the South American country.

The Governing Body's Stance on Forgery

"Document falsification represents, pure and simple, a form of dishonesty," stated FIFA in its findings.

"Forging documents strikes at the heart of the fundamental principles of football, not only those governing a player’s eligibility to represent a national team, but also the essential values of a clean sport and the concept of sportsmanship," commented Jorge Palacio, vice-chair of FIFA's disciplinary committee.

FAM's Response and Appeal Plan

FIFA's report states that FAM admitted it "received inquiries by third parties regarding the athletes' ancestry and did not attempt to personally confirm the validity of the papers."

"The original birth certificates showed a sharp contrast to the documentation provided," it noted.

FIFA also said it was "managed to acquire the authentic papers easily," which revealed a "lack of proper diligence" by the Malaysian body.

The Football Association of Malaysia responded to the global body's allegations in a statement on Tuesday, asserting the inconsistencies were the outcome of an "administrative error" and the individuals are "rightful citizens of Malaysia."

"Claims that the athletes 'acquired or were knowledgeable of fraudulent papers' are baseless as no solid evidence has been provided to date," the announcement said.

The association will submit an official appeal of FIFA's decision, using authentic papers that have been certified by the Malaysian government.

Southeast Asian Background and Official Responses

South-east Asian countries have lately pursued recruitment drives for foreign-born athletes, modelled after the Indonesian approach of recruiting Dutch-born footballers from the Indonesian diaspora.

The country's minister for sports, Hannah Yeoh, stated in a release that "the football association needs to complete the challenge procedure and that they cannot remain silent but have to answer plainly to every disclosure from FIFA."

"Supporters are upset, hurt and disappointed," she remarked.

Present Situation and Forthcoming Matches

Despite doubt surrounding the squad's composition, the team is now ranked 123rd in the Asian Football Confederation standings and is scheduled to play in qualifying matches for the Asian Cup in the coming weeks, meeting Laos on the upcoming Thursday.