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Malaysia football officials quit over foreign-born players scandal
The entire executive committee of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) have resigned amid a simmering scandal over foreign-born players in the national team.
Fifa, the world football governing body, has accused FAM of doctoring citizenship documents so seven foreign-born athletes could play for Malaysia.
The mass resignations would "ensure that any necessary reforms may be undertaken without distraction or perceived conflicts, and with a renewed basis of trust", FAM said in a statement on Wednesday.
For days there had been speculation that FAM leaders would step down to prevent a takeover by a FIFA-nominated committee, local media reported.
The resignations were meant to "safeguard the reputation and institutional interests of FAM" and avoid consequences that "could affect Malaysian football as a whole", FAM said.
It added that until a new committee is appointed, FAM's operations will be managed by a small team led by its secretary-general with help from the Asian Football Confederation.
The seven foreign-born players have been been fined by Fifa, which also temporarily suspended them from playing football.
But that suspension was lifted this week by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is set to deliver a verdict on the fates of embattled athletes.
After Malaysia's 4-0 victory over Vietnam in an Asian Cup qualifier last June, Fifa launched an investigation into the eligibility of seven foreign-born players on the Malaysian national team.
They are: Spanish-born Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces and Jon Irazabal Iraurgui, Argentinian-born Rodrigo Julian Holgado and Imanol Javier Machuca, Netherlands-born Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano and Brazilian-born Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo.
Fifa's "grandfather rule" allows foreign-born football players to represent countries that their biological parents or grandparents were born in.
The rule aims to prevent national teams from simply importing foreign players to boost performance.
But according to Fifa, FAM had forged birth certificates to make it look like the players' grandparents were born in Malaysian cities like Penang and Malacca.
Fifa investigators said the grandparents' original birth certificates showed they had been born in countries like Argentina and Spain - all corresponding with the players' birthplaces.
This "constitutes, pure and simple, a form of cheating", the football governing body said at the time.
The Fifa disciplinary committee fined the players and suspended them for 12 months. It also ordered FAM to pay 350,000 Swiss francs ($440,000; £330,000).
FAM said the discrepancies arose from an "administrative error" and maintained the players were "legitimate Malaysian citizens".
But FAM's appeal was rejected by Fifa, which overturned the results of three of Malaysia's football matches - against Singapore, Palestine and Cape Verde - into 3-0 defeats.
FIFA also vowed to launch a formal investigation into FAM and inform authorities in five countries of forgery offences.
After losing its appeal against Fifa's decision, FAM took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, an independent body in charge of sports-related disputes.
On Monday, the CAS lifted the suspension on the seven players, allowing them to participate in football activities until it issues a verdict on their eligibility.
That verdict is expected in late February, a FAM official told local media.
This means for now, the players can return to the pitch at their respective football clubs.
On Tuesday, Spanish football club Deportivo Alaves announced that Facundo Garces has rejoined the team's training sessions.
Photos shared by Malaysian football club Johor Darul Ta'zim also showed another three players - Joao Figueiredo, Hector Hevel Jon Irazabal - back at training.
South East Asian countries in search of sporting success have launched recruitment drives for naturalised football players. Indonesia, for one, has welcomed a wave of Dutch-born footballers from the Indonesian diaspora.
Since 2018 Malaysia has granted citizenship to 23 foreigners to play for the national team, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told parliament last October.
Source: BBC
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