Who is the complainant accusing Malaysia to FIFA?

FIFA has partially revealed the issue regarding the complaint about Malaysia's illegal naturalization in the 4-0 victory over Vietnam's national team.

In the early hours of October 7 (Vietnam time), FIFA announced Decision FDD-24394 related to the Malaysian Football Association (FAM) falsifying naturalization documents for 7 players. This decision from the World Football Federation spans 19 pages, providing complete evidence of FAM's illegal naturalization process.

Specifically, FIFA holds the original birth certificates of the grandparents of these 7 naturalized players. When compared to the altered documents used for illegal naturalization, FIFA confirms that the grandparents of all 7 players were not born in Malaysia. According to the original birth certificates, they hold citizenship and were born in various Western countries, including the Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, and Spain.

Additionally, FIFA revealed more about the origin of the case. On June 10, 2025, the players participated in the match between Malaysia and Vietnam in the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, Group F (Malaysia won 4-0). In this match, Figueiredo and Holgado scored goals at the 49th and 59th minutes respectively.

One day later, on June 11, 2025, FIFA received a complaint regarding the eligibility of the 7 naturalized players. Specifically, the complainant filed "an official complaint concerning the belief that some foreign-born players were not qualified to represent Malaysia's national team. Their arrival and participation in matches in Malaysia happened relatively recently. The naturalization process and their international debut occurred within a suspicious timeframe, raising serious questions about the legitimacy of this process.

Thus, less than a day after Malaysia's 4-0 win against Vietnam, a complaint was filed suspecting the Malaysian Football Association of illegally naturalizing these 7 players. However, FIFA will keep the identity of the complainant or entity confidential.

According to FIFA's announcement, the Malaysian Football Association submitted eligibility verification documents to FIFA along with altered paperwork to register 7 players: Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomás Garcés, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, João Vitor Brandão Figueiredo, Jon Irazábal Iraurgui, and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano.