A Malaysia eliminated from contention for a place at the 2027 Asian Cup after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) reversed, this Tuesday (17), the team’s victories over Nepal and Vietnam.
The entity stated that the team used players without eligibility to represent the country.
The AFC’s disciplinary decision transformed both games in by WO for Malaysia. As a result, the team fell six points behind Vietnam, leader of Group F, and lost any mathematical possibility of qualifying, with only one match remaining to be played.
In addition to the sporting punishment, the Malaysian Football Association was fined 50 thousand dollars (R$ 261 thousand), an amount that must be paid within 30 days.
The Association said on its website that it will request reasons for the decision from the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee and then consider next steps.
The sanctions imposed by the continental confederation followed a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which partially upheld the punishments applied by FIFA to seven players who played for Malaysia with falsified naturalization documents.
The court ordered that the athletes serve a 12-month suspension only from official matches.
CAS also confirmed the fine of 350,000 Swiss francs (equivalent to R$2.3 million) imposed by FIFA on .
Among the players punished is defender Facundo Garcés, from Deportivo Alavés. He is part of the group of seven athletes suspended for one year by FIFA in September, after the entity identified the to enable players to participate in a match of the Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam.
The other athletes involved are Gabriel Arrocha (Unionistas de Salamanca), Rodrigo Holgado (América de Cali), Imanol Machuca (Vélez Sarsfield), João Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Héctor Hevel (the last three from Johor Darul Ta’zim).
Initially, the group had been suspended for 12 months from all football-related activities.
