Indonesian media reacts as AFC has not yet issued a penalty against Malaysia

Indonesian media reports that Malaysia will still participate in the Asian Cup despite losing the case regarding seven illegally naturalized players.

Speaking at a press conference on March 16 morning, AFC Secretary General Windsor Paul stated that Malaysia's case shares some similarities with the scandal that previously occurred with Timor Leste. Nevertheless, he affirmed that the two cases are not entirely identical in nature due to differing contexts of the violations.

According to CNN Indonesia, this means Malaysia will continue to participate in the Asian Cup and not be removed from the tournament: “The naturalization lawsuit does not prevent Malaysia from participating in the Asian Cup,” the newspaper published the article.

According to CNN Indonesia, the falsification of naturalization documents for Malaysian national team players stirred public opinion since September 2025. This recalls a similar incident that occurred in Timor Leste nine years ago. The 2017 scandal involving 12 Brazilian-origin players led to Timor Leste being banned from participating in the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers. At that time, 29 matches played by Timor Leste with ineligible players were also annulled.

However, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) indicated that while the two cases share similarities, they are not entirely identical in nature due to differing contexts of the violations. At that time, Timor Leste's violation was only discovered after the tournament had concluded, so AFC could only penalize them in subsequent competitions. Meanwhile, Malaysia's case was discovered midway, making it different.

Currently, AFC has not yet issued a final decision regarding penalties against the Malaysian Football Association and the national team in the qualifiers Asian Cup. They will still play the match against the Vietnamese national team as part of the final Group F match in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers scheduled for March 31.