Malaysia suspected of cheating seven players
In an article in Malaysiakini on Oct. 17, author Nadeswaran argued that Malaysia is having “a national trial”. That is, everywhere, people discuss and judge the most bizarre football scandal in the history of the country.
According to Nadeswaran, FIFA’s investigation is only a float. The sinking part is the network of those who benefited from the mass immigration of seven foreign players, including Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal, Hector Hevel and Gabriel Arrocha.
It is hard to imagine FAM officials traveling to South America and Europe to track down the ancestors of these players. "Only one crab was behind. This man was paid generously to create fake Malaysian genealogies," the article said.
In contemporary football, brokers are the middle link, holding great power. According to BBC figures in July 2025, Premier League clubs spent $550 million on brokerage fees in just one year. Chelsea paid more than $80 million, Man City more than $70 million. Even lower-tier teams like Fleetwood Town spend nearly $400,000.
If the commission is usually 10% transfer fee, Nadeswaran found the cost of "buying" these seven immigrant players is not small. “Someone laughed on the way to the bank,” he wrote. "And the Malaysian Federation (FAM) has remained silent on the identity of this person."
When FIFA released detailed evidence on Oct. 6, FAM was determined to have submitted a fake birth certificate for his birthplace, the mother of seven players. Specifically, FAM reports that their grandparents were born in Melaka, Penang, Johor or Sarawak, while the originals obtained by FIFA show they were all born in Europe or South America.
Under pressure from the public, on October 7, FAM declared that this was an administrative mistake. “An employee incorrectly downloaded documents from a representative, rather than documents issued by the National Registry of Malaysia (NRD),” the statement said.
However, this excuse quickly collapsed when the NRD admitted that it was unable to trace the publication of the original records, but only issued copies "based on secondary evidence". That means the entire chain of documents, from the agent, FAM to NRD, is unreliable.
According to the Transfermarkt player data page, Hevel is represented by Universal Twenty Two, similar to Holgado (Elite Sports Management), Machuca (Chromo Agency), Figueiredo (Promanager), Palmero (Ivan Cristovinho). Garces and Irazabal are not represented, according to the data.
Nadeswaran also asked: “Has the people’s tax money been used to fund this scam?”
He recalled that in January 2025, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced a budget of 30 million ringgit ($7.1 million) to develop Malaysia’s men’s football team, half of which comes from the state.
The Malaysian newspaper questioned FAM’s desire to enhance the team’s competitiveness by importing foreign players with fake papers. Therefore, he called on the Ministry of Youth and Sports to oblige the FAM to publish its spending ledger so that the people know exactly what the 30 million ringgit was used for.
Out of pride for the biggest victory in history over Vietnam, Malaysia is now in a crisis of confidence. FAM says they were deceived, but many people think they let themselves be deceived. A loose system, lack of oversight and transparency has created opportunities for crooks to make a profit, while the national football's reputation has been badly damaged.
“In this story, the only one who really wins is the crawler,” the Malaysian newspaper added. "He doesn't need the talent of 007, just a passport, a few papers, and a federation willing to close his eyes."
Malaysiakini, Malaysian for Malaysia Now, is Malaysia’s largest newspaper, alongside The Star, Bernama and Malay Mail. The newspaper has Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil versions.
