KUALA LUMPUR — The seven players suspended for 12 months over the controversial heritage-documentation case will not be allowed to return to the Harimau Malaya squad even after their bans expire at the end of this month.
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan confirmed that the players, while retaining their Malaysian citizenship, remain ineligible to represent the national team.
He said the decision was based on FIFA’s ruling that prevents the seven from resuming international duty for Malaysia.
“No. The players cannot represent the country. FIFA does not allow it. FIFA does not allow them to play for Malaysia,” he told Scoop when contacted.
The seven players — Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Gabriel Palmero, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel — were handed 12-month suspensions following the controversy over allegedly falsified documents used to support their eligibility based on Malaysian heritage.
Their suspensions are due to expire at the end of October, prompting questions over whether they could return to international football once they had served their full punishment.
However, Ab Ghani’s latest clarification makes clear that the expiry of the suspensions will not automatically restore their eligibility to play for Malaysia.
The case also highlights the distinction between Malaysian citizenship and eligibility under FIFA regulations to represent the country in international football.
Ab Ghani had previously stressed that matters involving citizenship and the issuance of Malaysian passports fall outside FAM’s jurisdiction.
He said the association would therefore seek clarification from the Home Ministry, particularly on how the players obtained Malaysian passports and their status under the country’s citizenship framework.
“Matters relating to citizenship and the issuance of passports are outside FAM’s jurisdiction. These are matters for the relevant authorities.
“As a new administration, we want to understand the entire process clearly. We will engage with the Home Ministry and seek its cooperation and clarification so that we can establish what happened and find the best possible way forward,” he said.
The seven players were sanctioned by FIFA after the governing body found issues with documents submitted to support their eligibility to play for Malaysia based on claimed heritage links.
FAM was also sanctioned in connection with the case, including penalties involving international matches in which the seven players had featured.
Ab Ghani, who recently took over as FAM president, has pledged to seek a clearer explanation from the relevant authorities on how the players were able to obtain Malaysian citizenship and passports despite FIFA subsequently finding problems with documents linked to their claimed ancestry.
“We need to understand how this happened and how the process was carried out. FAM needs to work closely with the relevant authorities because this involves matters beyond the association’s powers.
“Our priority now is to get the facts and understand the process properly so that we know where the weaknesses were and what needs to be done moving forward,” he said. — October 2, 2026