CAS eases sanctions on seven Malaysia internationals in nationality fraud case | OneFootball

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheld FIFA’s late-December fine of 350,000 Swiss francs (€386,000) against Malaysia over a nationality fraud scandal, while easing sanctions on seven Malaysia internationals. The decision was announced on Thursday.

In a statement, the tribunal confirmed the players may resume training with their clubs, cancelling a 12-month suspension from all football-related activity.

Facundo Garces (Alaves, Spain), Rodrigo Holgado (Coquimbo Unido, Chile), Imanol Machuca (Vélez Sarsfield, Argentina), Joao Figueiredo (Johor DT, Malaysia), Gabriel Palmero (Kuching City, Malaysia), Jon Irazabal (Johor DT) and Hector Hevel (Johor DT) remain barred from official matches for one year. The period already served from 25 September to 26 January will be taken into account.

The seven had been approached last year by the Football Association of Malaysia to represent the national team and began a naturalisation process using falsified documents, despite having no link to the country.

FAM’s executive committee resigned en bloc at the end of January and the federation accepted responsibility, saying the players’ role was limited to supplying the documents, which they had neither prepared nor altered. CAS deemed the players complicit.

Source: L'Équipe