Malaysian FA disappointed with CAS ruling to partially uphold player sanctions

Malaysia’s football association said ⁠on Friday it ⁠was disappointed by a Court ⁠of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling to partially uphold sanctions on seven footballers who played for the national team using falsified naturalisation documents.Deportivo Alaves’ Facundo Garces was among seven players banned for ‌a year by Fifa in September after it found that doctored documentation had been used so that they could play in an Asian Cup qualifier for Malaysia against Vietnam last year.The other players were Gabriel Arrocha (Unionistas de Salamanca), Rodrigo Holgado (America de Cali), Imanol Machuca (Velez Sarsfield), Joao ⁠Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel (all Johor Darul Ta’zim).The Football ⁠Association of Malaysia (FAM) then took the case ‌to CAS after Fifa dismissed its appeal.CAS eased the sanctions on Thursday, banning them from official matches only rather than ‌all football-related activities, with players allowed to train with their clubs, but it upheld Fifa’s 350,000 Swiss franc (US$448,200) fine ⁠on the FAM.Deportivo Alaves’ Facundo Garces (right) is one of the players implicated in the scandal. Photo: AFPFAM said the ruling was “disproportionate” and that it had accepted responsibility for oversight failures.