Malaysia’s penalty escape rate is 0%, Vietnam’s national team awaits a favorable ruling

There has never been a single case of citizenship fraud that was fully acquitted when appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

On the evening of November 3rd, FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber issued a decision rejecting all appeals from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and seven naturalized players related to the disciplinary sanctions previously imposed by FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee.

According to FIFA’s announcement, FAM and the players received the decision today. They have 10 days to request a detailed ruling and then 21 days to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The President of the Malaysian Football Association has confirmed plans to appeal to CAS as a final hope.

Looking back at history, the acquittal rate for teams appealing to CAS for using ineligible naturalized players is 0%. The Equatorial Guinea Football Federation is a notable example, having been penalized multiple times for fielding ineligible players, among whom Emilio Nsue was the focus of two major sanctions.

In 2013, the men’s team was ruled to lose 0-3 in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers for using Nsue. Notably, in 2024, Nsue caused the team to forfeit two more matches after it was discovered he had played with falsified documents (altered place of birth) for 10 years. Although the Equatorial Guinea Football Federation successfully appealed the suspension against Nsue, the CAS upheld the decision to forfeit the matches.

Equatorial Guinea was also stripped of their 2012 Olympic participation and their women’s team was disqualified from the 2019 World Cup for fielding up to 10 naturalized Brazilian players with fake documents. All their appeals to CAS were unsuccessful.

Additionally, two other notable cases are: New Zealand U23 (2015): The team was ruled to lose 0-3 and eliminated from the Oceania U23 Championship after fielding player Deklan Wynne who did not meet residency requirements for nationality transfer. New Zealand Football’s appeal was rejected.

Bolivia’s national team was ruled to lose 0-3 two matches (victory against Peru and draw with Chile) in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers for using defender Nelson Cabrera who failed to meet the residency duration needed for nationality change. This decision awarded additional points to Chile and Peru. Bolivia’s appeals to FIFA and CAS were unsuccessful.

Given the verified evidence from FIFA and Argentine media about falsified original birth certificates for seven naturalized players, Malaysia faces an extremely slim chance of acquittal. The AFC will base its final decision on FIFA’s and its own rulings, and a 0-3 forfeit loss for matches involving illegally naturalized players, including the match against Vietnam’s national team, is almost certain.