Malaysian naturalized star makes a mistake about his origin, suspected of violating FIFA regulations

(Dan Tri) - Malaysian center-back Facundo Garces became the center of suspicion when he suddenly made a slip of the tongue about his origin.

For a long time, the Indonesian press has continuously expressed doubts about the Malaysian national team's illegal naturalization. Accordingly, the "Tigers" quickly naturalized Facundo Garces, Joao Figueiredo, Rodrigo Hogaldo, Jon Irazabal and Imanol Machuca to prepare for the Asian Cup qualifiers.

Facundo Garces claims his great-grandfather was Malaysian. This raises suspicions that Malaysia has illegally naturalized the player (Photo: EFE).

The suspicion is centered on the case of Facundo Garces, a European-class player who plays for Alaves in La Liga (Spain). Currently, Facundo Garces is valued at 1.2 million euros by Transfermarkt and is the most valuable player in the Malaysian national team.

However, the origin of Facundo Garces has been a big topic of debate in Malaysia in recent days. No Malaysian newspaper has mentioned the origin of this Argentine-born midfielder.

Facundo Garces' unclear blood relationship with Malaysia makes the story even more complicated. According to journalist Avinehwaran, Facundo Garces has a Malaysian grandmother. But this is only personal information and there is no document to verify it. The Malaysian Football Federation has not denied or confirmed the above information.

Recently, Facundo Garces further complicated the situation when he gave an interview to El Correo (Spain) about his Malaysian origins.

The centre-back said: “Thanks to my great-grandfather (who is of Malaysian origin), I knew about my family background, but I never thought that one day I would have the opportunity to play for the Malaysian national team. They told me that they were building a very interesting football project, which really excited me.”

Later, Facundo Garces corrected that his statement was misunderstood due to... a typing error (Photo: Instagram).

According to Kompas (Indonesia), Malaysia may have violated the regulations on naturalization of players. According to Article 7 on the status of national team representatives, FIFA only allows naturalization of foreign players who are related from grandparents (ie related within three generations). In case of connection to great-grandfather (through four generations) like Facundo Garces, FIFA will not approve.

Malaysia insists that all naturalizations are in compliance with FIFA requirements and regulations. However, if there is a complaint, the world's top football body can conduct an investigation. If proven to have violated the law, Malaysia could be banned from football for a number of years, as was the case with Timor Leste.

Currently, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has not yet commented on this issue. Meanwhile, Facundo Garces immediately "fixed the problem" with a post on his personal page: "This is a writing error. I have a grandmother of Malaysian descent. I am honored to wear the national team shirt. See you again."

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/sao-nhap-tich-malaysia-va-mieng-ve-goc-gac-bi-nghi-vi-pham-quy-dinh-fifa-20250820104303218.htm