8 MARCH 2026
PRESS STATEMENT
On 5 March 2026, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) partially upheld an appeal by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and seven players of the Malaysian National Football Team over Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) sanctions for falsifying naturalisation and eligibility documents. The CAS Panel ruled that FIFA’s decision to ban all seven players for 12 months from official matches and FAM’s fine of over 350,000 Swiss francs should be upheld. This effectively means that FAM and the Malaysian National Football Team were found guilty of trying to falsify naturalisation and eligibility documents.
In light of this ruling, FAM has maintained that “the players are Malaysians who obtained citizenship in accordance (with) the laws of Malaysia”. The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) is dismayed at FAM’s failure to accept full responsibility and demands immediate action from the relevant authorities to address these shameful findings, including potential disciplinary or even criminal sanctions against implicated parties. Failure to do so would mean that the government failed to adequately rectify one of the most embarrassing scandals in recent memory.
“Deliberate and coordinated attempt” to evade FIFA regulations
It is important to remember what FIFA’s Appeal Committee found FAM guilty of, namely:
- FAM handled all bureaucratic steps to obtain Malaysian nationality on behalf of the seven players, rather than the players themselves;
- All players admitted at the hearing that they did not read any of the relevant documentation as they did not understand Malay;
- Each player’s grandparent’s birth certificate was manipulated in similar ways, with foreign birthplaces altered to Malaysian locations and other elements and details removed; and
- FAM submitted these forged documents to FIFA knowingly and benefited from the fraud through player eligibility approvals. Notably, FAM admitted at the hearing that the birth certificates submitted in the eligibility enquiries were not authentic.
In the wake of the Appeal Committee’s findings, FAM attempted to pass off the alleged forgery as an “administrative error”, while Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution claimed that he used discretionary powers granted under Article 20(1)(e) of the Federal Constitution to award the seven players citizenship. It is clear from here that – rather than taking accountability for this clear instance of impropriety – FAM and the government as a whole attempted to hide behind half-baked excuses and ill-thought-out explanations. Further still, the Home Minister’s statement implicates the government in potentially approving fraudulent citizenship.
Government’s “independent investigation committee” ineffective
Thus far, the only real action taken by the government to address these damning revelations was the establishment of an “independent investigation committee” (IIC). Established in October 2025 – a full month after FIFA’s sanctions – the four-man committee announced the following findings and recommendations in December:
- Several key documents used to support the players’ eligibility lacked sufficient authentication and supporting evidence;
- Internal checks and balances were insufficient to detect documentation issues before submissions were made to FIFA;
- The IIC could not conclusively determine who falsified the impugned documents. This is due to the fact that the certifying Notary Public did not cooperate and the seven players’ agents could not be located despite reasonable efforts;
- Serious failures in oversight, due diligence and administrative control within FAM’s management permitted this incident to happen without detection of intervention; and
- FAM is urged to take appropriate internal disciplinary action where oversight failed and implement structural reform that IIC recommends, including immediate disciplinary proceedings against Secretary-General Noor Azman; and
- FAM is advised to lodge a police report immediately.
Despite these recommendations, there have been no assurances that the IIC’s findings are properly heeded and faithfully implemented. In fact, after initially suspending Noor Azman, the Secretary-General was eventually reinstated with his suspension lifted after FAM ruled that, “Noor Azman was only linked to administrative negligence and was not guilty of or involved in falsifying the documents”. This signals further reluctance from FAM to take genuine accountability for serious misgovernance.
Regrettably, it appears that the IIC’s findings will only continue to fall on deaf ears. Here, it is apparent how, without proper legal footing, “independent committees” will have little influence in ensuring true accountability and adequate measures are in fully implemented to remedy scandals of this magnitude. The government must rectify this immediately, and take heed of the IIC’s inability to effect change, especially as a special committee investigates various allegations surrounding the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and its Chief Commissioner Azam Baki. Such committees must be granted the full independence, legal enforceability and must also be made answerable to the public to ensure satisfactory outcomes.
Therefore, C4 Center strongly urges the government to do the following:
- The immediate resignation of Noor Azman as FAM Secretary General, pending police investigations for possible criminal falsification of birth certificates and citizenship records.
- Further police investigations into other criminal elements involved in the falsification of documents.
- Immediate efforts to implement structural governance reforms of FAM to prevent further abuse of process, including external oversight mechanisms.
- Public accountability from the government, including a detailed explanation from the Home Ministry of procedural failures that allowed forged documents to be treated as genuine.
END OF STATEMENT
Issued by:
Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4 Center)
For further enquiries, please contact:
c4center@gmail.com
019-216 6218
