Behind the 'scandal' of Malaysian football

08/10/2025 13:52:00 ScoreStream

Following FIFA’s publication of a 19-page report accusing the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and seven players of forging documents and cheating, the next phase will involve FAM’s appeal process, with the possibility of taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The Malaysian football naturalization scandal still seems far from a formal resolution. No one knows which side will "win" this matter, but the definite loss belongs to authentic football.

To have an officially naturalized player like Nguyễn Xuân Sơn compete, Vietnamese football endured 15 years of deliberation since the first use of naturalized players in 2009. We do not lack overseas Vietnamese players with clear blood ties, but selecting even a few players for the national team has never been straightforward. Many rounds of careful consideration were necessary before the visible consequences on domestic football could be observed.

This slight comparison shows that the Malaysian football naturalization scandal is not simply a matter of accidental or intentional wrongdoing, clerical errors, or misunderstandings between parties. FIFA's conclusion contains an important point: "This is a significant issue, so FAM should have exercised caution regarding the players' origins."

In other words, one cannot simply "pass the ball to FIFA" because the organization can easily verify the original documents of the players. Whether those documents are accurate or not, there are certainly discrepancies with what FAM provided. According to FIFA, if FAM had been "careful," they would have noticed these discrepancies and corrected the files accordingly.

The Malaysian football naturalization scandal has caused Southeast Asian football to attract global attention in an unwanted manner. Photo: Tuấn Phạm

The "caution" here, from the viewpoint of the world football governing body, means that naturalizing players to improve team quality is not wrong, but it has a significant impact on the development process of a football nation, even affecting related parties such as players’ morale, fans’ emotions, and opposing teams...

This means naturalization itself is not wrong but is not necessarily encouraged. Meanwhile, although seven players are currently under sanction, Malaysia still has 17 naturalized players, including five fully foreign-born players, called up for the FIFA Days gathering this October.

Thus, Malaysia can register almost all naturalized players, meaning no local-born players will be summoned. It is clear how greatly the domestic football system in Malaysia will be affected.

Imagine a faint bloodline connection, rooted from grandparents’ generation, where players who were not born, never played football, cannot speak the local language, and have never lived a day in their homeland occupy all playing slots on the national team. This is a huge injustice to the rest of the football community.

From a purely sporting perspective, FAM’s rushed "lack of caution" reflects the typical "achievement obsession." Malaysia does not lack naturalized players; the issue is their urgent need for quality players to secure a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup.

What they have done, although within regulations, has harmed the spirit of fair play in elite sports, where honesty, dedication, and sustainable football development are more important than winning or losing.

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