Vietnam-Malaysia Asian Cup qualifier to proceed despite court ruling on naturalized players

The Court of Arbitration for Sport on March 5 rejected Malaysia’s appeals against FIFA sanctions, confirming that the country had violated player naturalization regulations.

Consequently, the national team are likely to be handed two 0-3 forfeit losses by the AFC for fielding ineligible players during their 2-0 and 4-0 victories over Nepal and Vietnam in the Asian Cup qualifiers.

If these forfeits are officially applied, Vietnam will automatically top Group F. This potential shift in the standings led to speculation that the return match, scheduled to take place at Vietnam’s home ground at the end of March, might be canceled.

However, AFC secretary general Windsor Paul John has denied this possibility.

“The matches must go on. These are contractual and commercial matches that should not be canceled unless natural disasters dictate otherwise,” he told The Star. “Both Vietnam and Malaysia have commercial obligations to fulfill. Matches are also vital for rankings – ‘cancellation’ is never a good word in football.”

Regarding Malaysia’s violations, Windsor clarified that the federation does not unilaterally issue suspensions based on disciplinary regulations, as the authority to impose such penalties ultimately rests with FIFA. However, he added that the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee is still empowered to make specific decisions outside of those standard regulations.

In September 2025, FIFA Disciplinary Committee determined that Malaysia used forged or invalid documents in player registration files. This severe violation of international football principles involved Joao Figueiredo, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Facundo Garces, Jon Irazabal, Gabriel Palmero and Hector Hevel. The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) was fined 350,000 Swiss francs (US$450,000), and each player was fined 2,000 francs and banned from all football activities for 12 months.

Following an unsuccessful appeal to FIFA, Malaysia took the case to CAS, which yielded little change. The preliminary ruling issued last week upheld the majority of FIFA’s sanctions against FAM, only modifying the 12-month ban by narrowing the scope to official matches rather than all football activities.

“We have identified the clauses within the regulations that were violated and have asked them to provide their response,” Windsor added. “The committee are ready to decide on this. We expect a result within seven to 10 days.”

Under AFC regulations, potential penalties include a 0-3 forfeit loss for teams using ineligible players and a minimum fine of $1,000 for both the player and the member federation. This mirrors FIFA’s previous decision to penalize Malaysia with 0-3 losses in friendly matches against Cape Verde, Singapore and Palestine.

FAM remains dissatisfied with the CAS ruling. On Monday, Malaysia’s CEO, Rob Friend, continued to express his disappointment. He stated that based on the arguments presented, they believed there were strong grounds for a different outcome, citing the professionalism and integrity of the players throughout the period.