<figure id="attachment_3201734" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3201734" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-3201734 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/e50206c8-al-sultan-abdullah-sultan-ahmad-shah-and-tengku-ampuan-pahang-tunku-azizah-aminah-maimunah-iskandariah-fmt-051125-1.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3201734" class="wp-caption-text">Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and Tengku Ampuan Pahang Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah lead national sports legends in the inaugural &#8216;Walk With Al-Sultan Abdullah: The King of Sports&#8217; at the Merdeka Stadium today.</figcaption></figure>
KUALA LUMPUR: The Sultan of Pahang, Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, wants the documentation issue involving the seven naturalised players to serve as a lesson and warning to all parties in the future.
The former Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president said the responsible parties must strive to rectify the situation out of love for football, enabling the sport to rise above the problems plaguing it.
Al-Sultan Abdullah at the same time called for all parties to give space to the investigation process on the issue so that it can be carried out fairly.
“To be fair, let the process take its course. Let the truth prevail. Let the truth come out from the responsible parties,” he said at the “Walk With Al-Sultan Abdullah: The King of Sports” event at the Merdeka Stadium, here, today.
On Monday, Fifa rejected the appeal made by FAM and the seven players involved, namely Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal, and Hector Hevel.
The Fifa appeals committee upheld the penalty imposed by the body&#8217;s disciplinary committee against FAM and the seven players for offences related to document forgery under Article 22 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code (FDC).
Following this, FAM was ordered to pay a fine of 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 million), while the seven players were each fined 2,000 Swiss francs (around RM11,000) and suspended for 12 months from all football-related activities.
FAM and the players involved have 10 days to request the full written judgment and 21 days to file an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
FAM acting president Yusoff Mahadi said the association would write to Fifa to obtain the full details and written reasons for the decision before determining the next step for submitting an appeal to CAS.
Sports legends
Meanwhile, Al-Sultan Abdullah&#8217;s attendance at today&#8217;s event, which gathered 150 invited guests including several national sports legends, was also accompanied by Tengku Ampuan Pahang Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah.
The guests included local sports legends such as Santokh Singh and Soh Chin Ann (football), Rashid Sidek and James Selvaraj (badminton), and Leong Mun Yee (diving).
The event began with Al-Sultan Abdullah and Tunku Azizah participating in a Zumba session before circling the track of the iconic venue, followed by a meal with guests.
The idea for “Walk With Al-Sultan Abdullah: The King of Sports”, came from the ruler himself as a way to express appreciation for the sports legends who once served the country.
“We really miss the old-timers. This idea actually originated from me after frequently visiting the mosque next door, Masjid Al-Sultan Abdullah, and noticing the tall building (Merdeka 118) and this iconic stadium, Merdeka Stadium.
“So, I came up with this idea to walk here once, and why walk alone? Well, let&#8217;s invite the legends, sportsmen and former athletes, and all parties involved to remember this Merdeka Stadium from a long time ago,” he said.
Al-Sultan Abdullah is also open to the idea of making this event as an annual affair.

MatchPoint Times

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