KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 — The Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) will continue to balance the need to comply with international regulations and the demands for domestic accountability regarding the issue of documentation for seven national heritage football players.
Its Minister, Hannah Yeoh, said this step is crucial to ensure that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) strengthens its governance and restores public confidence in the integrity and credibility of national football.
“Such a suspension would not only affect the main national team but also involve all age-group teams, as well as other parties like the Malaysian Football League (MFL), Amateur Football League (AFL), and the clubs competing in the Malaysian League.
“This action will affect the entire local football ecosystem,” she said in a Facebook post yesterday, adding that the government also needs to be cautious on this issue because any form of intervention could lead to FAM being suspended by the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa).
Hannah said that in the history of international football, several countries have faced suspension by Fifa due to government interference, including Indonesia in 2015, Zimbabwe (2022), Chad (2021), Benin (2015), and Brunei (2009).
She stated that these examples show that Fifa is firm in upholding Statute 15(c), which stipulates that every football association must be free from any form of political or government interference, a fundamental principle of membership for any country under the organisation.
At the same time, she said that KBS, through the Sports Commissioner’s Office, will work closely with the Independent Special Investigation Committee led by former Chief Justice, Tun Md Raus Sharif, on this matter.
“The results of this investigation will serve as the basis for the implementation of corrective and improvement measures that must be complied with by the FAM,” she said.
On Monday, Fifa rejected the appeal made by FAM and the seven players involved, namely Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal, and Hector Hevel.
The Fifa Appeal Committee upheld the sanctions imposed by the governing body’s Disciplinary Committee against FAM and the seven heritage players for offences related to forgery of documents under Article 22 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code (FDC).
Following this, FAM was ordered to pay a fine of CHF350,000 (approximately RM1.8 million), while each player was fined CHF2,000 (around RM11,000).
The seven players were also suspended for 12 months from all football-related activities.
FAM Acting President Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi, who was surprised by the decision, said the association will write to Fifa to obtain the full details and written reasons for the decision before determining the next step to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).
