SURPRISE: Malaysia still faces the risk of receiving additional penalties

Malaysia needs to be very careful when appealing to CAS to prevent an increase in the punishment.

On the evening of November 3rd, the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber issued a decision rejecting all appeals from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and seven naturalized players related to disciplinary sanctions previously imposed by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

According to FIFA's announcement, FAM and the players received the decision today. The parties have 10 days to request a detailed ruling and then 21 days to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The Football Association of Malaysia has also confirmed that they will definitely appeal to CAS instead of accepting FIFA’s sanctions.

However, appealing to CAS may also bring additional disadvantages for the Football Association of Malaysia. By appealing, Malaysia faces three possible outcomes: reduction of the penalty, maintaining the current sanction, or an increase in the penalty. The result depends on the credibility of the submitted documents and whether the court believes there was no intention to commit fraud in player registration.

In the past, there has never been a case where the Court of Arbitration for Sport completely acquitted a party regarding illegal player naturalization or document forgery. Generally, once FIFA upholds the penalty, appealing to CAS is only a hope for a lighter sentence. However, if the evidence Malaysia submits works against them, they might even face a harsher punishment.

Previously, after reviewing all files, evidence, and holding hearings, the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber decided to reject all appeals and maintain the penalties imposed earlier by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, specifically:

– The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) was fined 350,000 Swiss francs (CHF);

– Each of the 7 offending players was fined 2,000 CHF;

– These players remain suspended from all football activities for 12 months.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) stated it cannot intervene in this matter and will wait for the final CAS decision before deciding whether to impose a forfeit. The waiting period is expected to be long, possibly lasting several months.