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Agence France-Presse

Global footballers’ union FIFPro says that seven players embroiled in a Malaysian national team eligibility scandal are themselves victims and their 12-month bans “grossly disproportionate”.
Malaysia’s federation, FAM, has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after football’s world governing body Fifa banned the players and fined FAM US$440,000 in September for submitting false documents that said the foreign-born players had Malaysian ancestry.
The players were also fined 2,000 Swiss francs (US$2,500) each.
Fifa launched an investigation after receiving a complaint following Malaysia’s 4-0 win against Vietnam in June in an Asian Cup qualifier in which two of the seven players scored.
Its investigation showed none of Hector Hevel, Jon Irazabal, Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca or Joao Brandao Figueiredo had a parent or grandparent born in Malaysia, a requirement for selection to a national team.
Fifa said the documents submitted by Malaysia had been forged and described the misconduct as an attack on the sport’s integrity.
Civil authorities in Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands later provided genuine birth certificates that contradicted the Malaysian records. Fifa said it was “comfortably satisfied” that FAM’s documents had been manipulated, showing foreign birthplaces altered to Malaysian states.
FIFPro on Monday gave its full support to the seven and said they were not to blame.
“The sanctions imposed on them – a 12-month ban from all football-related activities – are grossly disproportionate given the particular circumstances of the case,” it said in a statement.
“It is clear that the players are, in fact, victims in this matter.”
It added: “All steps were handled by institutions outside their control, yet they now face suspension from their clubs and the serious consequences that follow through no fault of their own.”
Fifa has also lodged criminal complaints in five countries and opened its own formal investigation into the FAM.
The FAM has denied any deliberate wrongdoing.


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FIFPro says the sanctions by Fifa on the seven players declared to have Malaysian ancestry ‘are grossly disproportionate’


FIFPro says the sanctions by Fifa on the seven players declared to have Malaysian ancestry ‘are grossly disproportionate’.


Footballers in Malaysia eligibility scandal are ‘victims’, ban is unfair, says union

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}FIFPro says the sanctions by Fifa on the seven players declared to have Malaysian ancestry ‘are grossly disproportionate’

FIFPro says the sanctions by Fifa on the seven players declared to have Malaysian ancestry ‘are grossly disproportionate’