AFC has been appealed to CAS by the Malaysian Football Association, explaining the difference from the naturalization fraud case of the Timor Leste national team.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is conducting an audit of the Malaysian Football Association (FAM) following the naturalization scandal, aiming to complete it before the FIFA World Cup 2026 in June.

AFC Secretary General Windsor John stated that the audit results will serve as a basis for reforming FAM's structure, including amendments to its statutes and governance framework. Upon completion, FAM is expected to hold an Extraordinary Congress to approve the changes, before conducting an election congress for a new leadership around August or September.

"We want to complete this and convene an Extraordinary Congress, because if we want the changes to be approved by the members, an Extraordinary Congress must be held," Windsor said during a press conference on Monday.

"By the time the report is completed, we will be able to visualize where the breakdown occurred. We are not police. We cannot investigate like law enforcement agencies; we can only review documents, information flows, and decision-making processes," the AFC Secretary General continued.

The scandal involving numerous naturalized players has escalated from an administrative dispute into a governance crisis, exposing loopholes in the verification and approval systems of both FAM and the Malaysia Super League. AFC's audit program, involving nearly 20 experts, will review FAM's governance, legal, and financial structures, and identify where failures occurred. Officials who violated rules may still face disciplinary action under football's mechanisms.

"If you are a football official and have done something wrong, you may still have to appear before a disciplinary committee," Windsor John said.

Windsor John explained that the cases of invalid players for the Timor Leste and Malaysia national teams differ in nature due to the timing of the violation discovery.

In the case of the Timor Leste national team, the use of 12 invalid players in 2017 was only discovered after the tournament ended. Therefore, the Disciplinary Committee could not apply retrospective penalties to the results that had already occurred, and could only impose sanctions for subsequent tournaments. This is why Timor Leste was banned from participating in the next edition.

Conversely, the case of the Malaysia national team was discovered while the AFC Asian Cup qualifying rounds were still ongoing, so penalties could be applied immediately in the current stage of the tournament.

"In Timor Leste's case, the violation was discovered after the tournament had concluded. When a tournament is closed and a violation is newly discovered, penalties cannot be applied retrospectively. Sanctions can only be implemented for future tournaments. That is the logic," the AFC Secretary General stated.

"The tournament had ended before it was discovered that the documents used were fake. Therefore, when the Disciplinary Committee made its decision, they could not apply retrospective penalties and had to apply them to subsequent editions. That is why Timor Leste was banned from the next tournament," Windsor Paul explained.

"The situation of the Malaysia national team is different, because the incident was discovered while the tournament was still ongoing. The circumstances are not the same. Therefore, penalties can be implemented right now," the AFC Secretary General analyzed.

"That is the difference between the cases of Timor Leste and Malaysia, or any other national team. We need to look at the context of the decision-making process," he said during the press conference.

Windsor also stated that the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee is reviewing the facts and responses from the Malaysian Football Association. The final decision must comply with legal procedures, as it could be appealed to CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport).

"The Disciplinary Committee is reviewing the circumstances and responses from FAM. We must wait for this legal process to conclude. It cannot be rushed, because this decision could be appealed at the appellate level or to CAS," Windsor emphasized.