One-year ban: Garcés and Machuca suspended over suspected document forgery | OneFootball

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has imposed sanctions on the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and seven players — Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomás Garcés, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, João Vitor Brandão Figueiredo, Jon Irazábal Iraurgui, and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano — for violating Art. 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code regarding document forgery.

The FAM had sent inquiries to FIFA regarding the eligibility criteria for call-ups and, in this process, used manipulated documentation to be able to field the aforementioned players.

On June 10, 2025, the seven footballers represented the Malaysian national team in the match against Vietnam corresponding to the third round of the qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027. Subsequently, FIFA received a complaint related to the eligibility criteria for Facundo Tomás Garcés, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, João Vitor Brandão Figueiredo, Jon Irazábal Iraurgui, and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano.

After initiating the usual procedures, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee evaluated all relevant documentation and has imposed the following sanctions:

Additionally, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has referred the matter of the eligibility criteria for representing the Malaysian national team to the FIFA Football Tribunal for consideration.

The decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has been notified today to the FAM and the players. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, they have ten days to request the reasoned decision, which will be published at legal.fifa.com if requested. This decision may be appealed before the FIFA Appeal Committee.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.