Renowned lawyer delivers harsh words to seven Malaysian naturalized football stars

The CAS ruling has stripped seven foreign-origin players of their eligibility to represent Malaysia. According to lawyer Nik Erman Nik Roseli, the only path for them to return to the national team is through proper naturalization.

The latest ruling from CAS has essentially closed the door on the seven naturalized players' future with the Malaysian national team, unless they complete the full FIFA-regulated naturalization process.

According to the CAS decision, the documents previously used to prove the Malaysian origin of these players were determined to be forged. This means they do not meet the criteria to play for the Malaysian national team as "origin players," despite the penalty being reduced compared to the initial ruling.

The seven involved players are Hector Hevel, Imanol Machuca, Facundo Garcés, Rodrigo Holgado, João Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal, and Gabriel Palmero. Sports lawyer Nik Erman Nik Roseli stated that following the CAS ruling, these players will not be able to represent Malaysia even after completing their 12-month suspension.

“These players are not eligible to represent Malaysia even after the 12-month suspension ends, because they do not have Malaysian lineage,” Nik Erman explained.

According to this lawyer, the only way they could play for Malaysia in the future is to complete the legal naturalization procedure, including residing in Malaysia for at least five years as per FIFA regulations. Previously, a CAS panel of three international arbitrators chaired by Mr. Lars Hilliger (Denmark) reviewed the appeal from the players and the Football Association of Malaysia in Lausanne (Switzerland) on February 26.

After the review process, CAS decided to uphold the 12-month playing ban previously imposed by FIFA. However, the ban applies only to official matches, rather than all football-related activities. CAS also rejected FAM's appeal, meaning the Football Association of Malaysia must still pay a fine of approximately 350,000 Swiss Francs.

“Simply put, the appeal was rejected because the court determined there was document forgery. All arguments claiming no forgery were not accepted,” Nik Erman added.

Nevertheless, the legal expert believes the detailed reasoning for reducing the scope of the penalty to only official matches will only be clarified when CAS releases the full explanatory document for its ruling.