<figure id="attachment_3154658" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3154658" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3154658" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/18b630ef-logo-fam-bernamapic-090925.webp" alt="logo FAM" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3154658" class="wp-caption-text">P Ramasamy said the FAM officials involved in the matter, as well as home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh, must be held accountable. (Bernama pic)</figcaption></figure>
PETALING JAYA: Former Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy today questioned the earlier dismissal by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) of Fifa’s sanctions against the football body and seven foreign-born players as a &#8220;technical error&#8221;.
This follows Fifa&#8217;s release of its full written grounds in the disciplinary case against FAM, stating that the certificates submitted in the eligibility proceedings for the players had been forged.
&#8220;How then can the imposition of fines on FAM and the seven players, along with their suspension, be dismissed as mere technicality? In other words, FAM is claiming that the penalties were due to procedural issues rather than serious wrongdoing.
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&#8220;But Fifa is not an ordinary football body – it is an institution with an international reputation to safeguard. Why would such a global authority make an allegation as serious as document tampering unless it had compelling evidence?&#8221; Ramasamy said in a statement.
The players involved are Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomás Garcés, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, João Vitor Brandão Figueiredo, Jon Irazábal Iraurgui, and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano.
FAM had cited a &#8220;technical error&#8221; by one of its personnel in the documents submitted to field the players in an Asian Cup qualifier following the sanctions by Fifa.
Fifa’s written grounds however said that its secretariat obtained the original birth certificates of the players’ grandparents directly from foreign registries and compared them with those filed by FAM.
The results showed that details in the players’ ancestral records had been altered, with their grandparents’ birthplaces changed from Spain, Argentina, Brazil, and the Netherlands in the original documents to places in Melaka, Penang, Johor, and Sarawak.
Fifa said it was &#8220;comfortably satisfied&#8221; that the documents were forged, citing &#8220;sharp contrasts&#8221; between the originals and those used in the eligibility cases.
Ramasamy, the Urimai chairman, asked if FAM had been in such a hurry to submit the paperwork that it bypassed the necessary verification with the home ministry.
&#8220;Yet, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has the temerity to claim that the naturalisation process was in order,&#8221; he said.
Saifuddin had said that the naturalisation process for the players was done in <a href="https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2025/09/27/naturalisation-of-harimau-malaysia-players-above-board-says-saifuddin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">full compliance</a> with the law following a rigorous process.
Ramasamy said the FAM officials involved in the matter, as well as Saifuddin and youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh, must be held accountable.
FAM today reiterated its decision to <a href="https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2025/10/07/fam-to-appeal-against-fifa-sanctions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeal </a>against Fifa’s sanctions, saying the international football organisation had provided no evidence to support its claims.

MatchPoint Times

Ramasamy rips into FAM’s ‘technical error’ claim after Fifa written grounds

Urimai chairman asks if the national football association was in such a hurry to submit the paperwork that it bypassed the necessary verification with the home ministry.

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