Malaysian naturalized players in turmoil before FIFA's decision

(Dan Tri) - Today (October 6) is the last day of the 10-day period that FIFA allows Malaysian football and 7 naturalized players to appeal. After nearly 10 days of being "suspended", the naturalized Malaysian players are facing great difficulties.

After the 12-month suspension from FIFA on September 26, the group of 7 players who used fake documents to obtain Malaysian citizenship, including Rodrigo Holgado, Facundo Garces, Imanol Machuca, Hector Hevel, Gabriel Palmero, Joao Figueiredo and Jon Irazabal, are in real trouble.

Malaysian media reported yesterday (October 5): “The club America de Cali (Colombia) has temporarily cut the salary of striker Rodrigo Holgado. This player has returned to Malaysia to personally deal with the 12-month ban from playing, issued by FIFA.”

Striker Rodrigo Holgado (19) has had his salary temporarily cut by his club, following a suspension from FIFA (Photo: NST).

“This ban from FIFA stems from irregularities in Rodrigo Holgado's naturalization application, allowing him to play for Harimau Malaya (the nickname of the Malaysian team),” the New Straits Times added.

That means naturalized player Rodrigo Holgado (of Argentinian origin) not only lost his job but also his income, just days after he was "suspended" by FIFA.

Meanwhile, center back Facundo Garces (Argentine origin, currently playing for Spanish club Alaves) had his transfer value reduced by 50%.

Previously, this central defender was valued at around 2 million euros (about 62 billion VND) by Transfermarkt (a website specializing in global player valuation). However, as of yesterday, Transfermarkt has lowered the player's value very quickly, to only 1 million euros (about 31 billion VND).

This is not too difficult to understand, because no club would risk spending a lot of money on a player who might have to stop playing within the next year, if the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) in general and Facundo Garces in particular fail to appeal to FIFA.

A group of 7 Malaysian naturalized players using fake documents are facing a crisis (Photo: NST).

A year of suspension means a very high risk of a serious decline in performance, physical strength, loss of ball feel, and sense of space on the pitch. Therefore, it is inevitable that center-back Facundo Garces will have a deep reduction in his transfer price.

Striker Rodrigo Holgado, centre-back Facundo Garces and the remaining five players out of seven currently suspended by FIFA are virtually excluded from their clubs' domestic, European and Asian competitions.

In Malaysia, three players, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel, have been banned by the Malaysian Professional Football League (MFL). These players have also been eliminated from the Southeast Asian Champions League and the Asian Champions League, where their home team, Johor Darul Tazim, is present.

The other two, center back Gabriel Palmero (of Spanish origin, currently playing for Spanish club Unionistas) and striker Imanol Machuca (of Argentine origin, currently playing for Argentine club Velez Sarsfield) have also returned to Malaysia to take care of the appeal procedure.

These players have not been officially notified by their home clubs of a pay cut or reduction, but that is still a clear risk before their eyes, if the appeal fails.

At the same time, if the appeal fails, the group of 7 players Rodrigo Holgado, Facundo Garces, Imanol Machuca, Hector Hevel, Gabriel Palmero, Joao Figueiredo and Jon Irazabal will have to end their international careers, because they will no longer be allowed to wear the jersey of any other national team around the world , according to FIFA rules.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/cau-thu-nhap-tich-malaysia-roi-ren-truoc-ngay-fifa-ra-phan-quyet-20251006004104141.htm