Malaysian football body risks Fifa’s takeover amid forgery scandal
Some sports fans claim that the reinstatement of FAM’s chief is ‘almost staged’ as concerns over Fifa’s next step mount
Malaysia’s football authorities are under mounting pressure to convince Fifa that they can clean up after a forgery scandal that has shaken the national game, with experts warning that failure to act decisively could invite outside intervention by the sport’s global governing body.
The latest flashpoint emerged after the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) on Thursday reinstated its secretary general Noor Azman Rahman, months after he was suspended amid an investigation into forged documents used to register seven foreign-born “heritage” players.
FAM said an independent disciplinary panel found Noor Azman was negligent but not directly involved in falsifying the documents and lifted his suspension with immediate effect.
The decision has drawn mixed reactions in Malaysia, where football remains a national obsession, and renewed scrutiny abroad, after Fifa banned the seven players for 12 months and fined FAM and the players a combined US$440,000 over the forgery scandal. Fifa said then that FAM had submitted manipulated records to back its false claim of the players’ Malaysian ancestry.
The seven players were Hector Hevel, Jon Irazabal, Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca and Joao Brandao Figueiredo.
FAM has appealed Fifa’s ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Swiss-based body that adjudicates international sports disputes.