Fifa Heritage Players Don T Speak Bm But Passed Citizenship Language Test

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The seven suspended “heritage” footballers had told the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) that they do not speak Bahasa Malaysia.
Yet, somehow, as the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) claimed, they passed the requisite Bahasa Malaysia test for their citizenship application.
This was among three damning allegations that surfaced in the Fifa appeals committee decision document.
Fifa had rejected an appeal against sanctions imposed on FAM and the seven players - Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces, Rodrigo Julian Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal Iraurgui and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano.
ADS1. 'Passing' citizenship requirements
In their written submissions, documents, and filings to the Fifa committee, all seven players admitted that they did not read the citizenship application documents submitted to the Malaysian government.
This included the boilerplate statement in the application that they had stayed in Malaysia for at least 10 years.
The same statement in the application form has the applicants swear that the documents they submitted are true, and that if they make any false statements, they are liable to be jailed for two years or fined.
The players' lawyers, however, admitted to Fifa that they were not granted citizenship because of residency.
The lawyers also said that the players did not read the documents because it was in the "Malaysian language", a fact the players also attested to.
"The players confirmed at the hearing that some of the documents were in ‘Malaysian’, which they do not speak, and that no translation was procured or asked by the players," Fifa noted.
In FAM's submissions, it said that the players had passed all their citizenship requirements, including a language test.
"On Feb 7, the Home Ministry issued formal invitations to two of the players to attend the Immigration Department for entry permit procedures and to appear before the National Registration Department (NRD) for citizenship registration.
"These players complied with the directives, and on March 16, their entry permits were approved. The following day, they completed the citizenship process, passed the requisite Bahasa Malaysia language tests, took the oath of allegiance, and were issued certificates of citizenship.
"On March 18, they received their Malaysian identity cards (ICs) and passports," read the summary of the FAM submissions in the Fifa appeals committee ruling.
ADSThe same process was then repeated for the other five players.
Last month, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told Parliament he had used his discretion regarding the residency requirement, while claiming that all players had met requirements, including proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution IsmailThe players were all scouted in 2024, with the naturalisation process initiated later that year.
2. Players’ own documents show no link to M'sia
Six of the footballers, excluding Arrocha, had submitted as evidence screenshots and WhatsApp conversations with their agents.
The evidence, the Fifa appeals committee noted, all showed "birth certificates of their grandparents, and none of which lists a place of birth in Malaysia (or territories that now comprise the country of Malaysia)."
Arrocha was unable to reproduce documents he had submitted to his agent as part of the naturalisation process.
Fifa, however, did obtain a copy of his grandmother's official birth certificate, which listed her birthplace as Spain.
The appeals committee noted that the birth certificate by FAM was almost identical to the original copy, save that the birthplace was recorded as Malacca.
Further, the document FAM submitted also lacked an alphanumeric code that allowed the document to be verified with the Spanish authorities.
The committee found that the document submitted by FAM was unreliable.
It also noted a curious slip of the tongue by Arrocha during a hearing when he attested that his grandmother was born in Malaysia.
According to Fifa, his exact words were: “My grandfather was born in Venezuela and my grandmother in Spain… I mean Malaysia, sorry.”
In Iraurgui's case, the committee also reproduced its comparison of the handwritten entries of the original birth document and the one submitted by FAM.
It flagged the misspelling of Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, as "Luching", as well as signs of tampering.
"On a closer examination, it appeared that (some) fields have been whitened or blurred," Fifa said.
All players denied knowledge that their grandparents' birth documents were manipulated, and said any possible alterations would have been done after they submitted their documents to their agents.
3. FAM sec-gen admits documents altered
FAM, in its submissions, acknowledged that certain members of its secretariat had made "administrative adjustments to foreign birth certificates" due to time constraints and in anticipation of official confirmations from Malaysian authorities.
However, it said this was done without the knowledge of the players, FAM secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman, and the FAM executive committee.
To support this, FAM submitted a statement by Azman - which the Fifa appeals committee opined was tantamount to an admission that documents were tampered.
FAM sec-gen Noor Azman RahmanHis statement is as follows:
“I acknowledge that members of the FAM administration engaged in handling and formatting certain copies of birth certificates and related supporting documents in the course of building complete eligibility files.
"This included the altered content of the birth certificates received from the players’ agents. These steps, while administratively motivated, were not a substitute for obtaining certified copies or official extracts, nor were they authorised as an official verification process.”
Azman has since been suspended from his duties pending an FAM internal investigation into the scandal.
Fifa's appeals committee, however, said it was not impressed by the suspension.
Instead, Fifa said it would launch its own investigations, which include probing Azman as well as licensed Fifa agents Nicolas Puppo and Frederico Moraes. - Mkini

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