Besides the match against Vietnam’s national team, Malaysia has been handed defeats in 5 additional matches.

In total, Malaysia’s national team used illegally naturalized players in 6 matches and is almost certain to be penalized with losses.

On the evening of November 3rd, FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Committee issued a decision rejecting all appeals from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and 7 naturalized players involved in disciplinary sanctions previously imposed by FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee.

According to FIFA’s conclusion, the 7 players—Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomás Garcés, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, João Vítor Brandão Figueiredo, Jon Irazábal Iraurgui, and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano—along with the Football Association of Malaysia violated Article 22 of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code, related to falsification and forgery of documents to legitimize their eligibility to play for Malaysia’s national team. All 7 players participated in the 4-0 victory over Vietnam’s national team in June 2025.

The Malaysian national team is almost certainly going to be handed losses in a total of 6 matches, including 4 friendlies against Cape Verde (2 matches), Singapore, and Palestine, plus 2 wins against Vietnam and Nepal in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. In all 6 matches, Malaysia is highly likely to be recorded as losing 0-3 because they fielded some or all of the 7 illegally naturalized players mentioned above.

The first was a 2-0 win over Nepal in March during the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, where naturalized player Hector Hevel also scored for Malaysia. This match was later contested by the Nepal Football Association, who filed a complaint to FIFA requesting the result be annulled due to the use of illegally naturalized players.

In the 2 friendlies against Cape Verde, on May 29th Malaysia used one illegally naturalized player, Gabriel Palmero, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. In the return match on June 3rd, which was played behind closed doors, Malaysia fielded two illegally naturalized players, Facundo Garces and Hector Hevel.

In the FIFA Days match against Singapore in September, Malaysia defeated their opponent 2-1, with two naturalized players, Figueiredo and Facundo Garces, starting the game. Notably, Figueiredo scored a goal for Malaysia. In the win against Palestine during the same FIFA Days, Figueiredo also started and scored, while Facundo Garces was in the starting lineup as well.