Malaysian sports have big fluctuations

Naturalization scandal damages Malaysian sports image.

In the early morning of October 7, FIFA officially announced the investigation report on 7 naturalized Malaysian players, including Gabriel Arrocha, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Iraurgui and Hector Hevel. The results showed that none of them had Malaysian ancestry, completely contrary to the documents that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) had submitted to FIFA.

According to the initial explanation from FAM, the grandparents of these 7 players “were believed to be born in Malaysia”, but FIFA’s independent investigation into civil registration agencies in Spain, Argentina, Brazil and the Netherlands completely refuted this information. The authorities in the above countries confirmed that there were no legal documents proving the blood relationship between the players and Malaysia.

Malaysian football players caught in naturalization scandal.

In response to the shocking discovery, Perak state MP Chong Zhemin sent an urgent petition to the Malaysian People's Assembly, demanding a comprehensive investigation.

“This is a possible violation of the law regarding the falsification of official documents. The competent authorities need to act quickly and seriously, as this is a matter of urgent public interest,” Mr. Chong said.

Mr Chong also proposed that the government conduct a full audit of the naturalisation process of athletes in other sports. In addition, he called for a more rigorous verification process, including checking against original records in the athlete’s country of origin before granting national representative status.

The FIFA report also named the National Registration Department (JPN) and the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN) as the relevant agencies in the case. FIFA said that FAM claimed that “JPN had verified the legitimacy of the naturalization documents,” but JPN revealed that they had not received any original data or handwritten copies from FAM.

Notably, FAM was accused of obtaining player data from an “external intermediary” instead of verifying the information directly. This led the FIFA Disciplinary Committee to accuse FAM and the Malaysian government of “lack of capacity” in managing player naturalization records.

Highlights Malaysia 0-0 Singapore On the evening of December 20, Malaysia was held to a 0-0 draw by Singapore at home, thereby officially being eliminated from the ASEAN Cup 2024.

Source: https://znews.vn/the-thao-malaysia-co-bien-dong-lon-post1591637.html