JAKARTA - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has partially revised penalties in the high-profile Malaysia naturalisation case, ruling that seven players will serve 12-month suspensions from official matches only rather than being barred from all football-related activities.

The panel kept the CHF 350,000 fine (approximately 1,77 million Malaysian Ringgit) against the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) intact and found the players complicit in document irregularities, though it reduced the scope of individual sanctions. Under the new partial revision, the players could continue training and playing with their professional clubs during the ban.

“After considering the evidence, the CAS Panel found that the infraction of falsifying eligibility documents was established and that the 12-month ban from playing matches was a reasonable and proportionate sanction for the players, given their complicit responsibility in this fraud,” the Court mentions.

The seven affected players named in the ruling are Facundo Garcés, Gabriel Arrocha, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, João Figueiredo, Jon Irazábal, and Héctor Hevel. Three were playing for Malaysia’s powerhouse Johor Darul Ta'zim, while the others are based in Spain, Argentina, and Colombia.

"FAM respects the jurisdiction of CAS, however, FAM believes that the punishment imposed appears disproportionate, especially when compared to punishments in similar cases previously decided by CAS," FAM's spokesperson says in a press release.

Their suspensions took effect from March 5, with credit given for time already served under earlier provisional measures between September 25, 2025, and January 26, 2026.

Under FIFA’s eligibility rules, a player may switch alliances if they hold more than one nationality and can show a connection to the country, such as being born there, having a biological parent or grandparent born there, or living there for a required period. They also must not have played in an official senior competitive match for their current national team. 

Malaysia’s fiercest rival, Indonesia, has also naturalised several foreign-born players eligible under FIFA rules, mainly with ties to the Netherlands through centuries of colonization in the past. Between 2020 and 2025, Indonesia’s football federation (PSSI) naturalised more than 20 heritage players for the senior national team as well as youth and women’s teams.