Malaysia handed 0-3 forfeits to send Vietnam to Asian Cup

Vietnam midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc (in red) during the 0-4 defeat to Malaysia in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, at Bukit Jalil Stadium, Malaysia on June 10, 2025. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Tu

The AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee issued the decision on Tuesday. Following a comprehensive review meeting chaired by committee chairperson Jahangir Baglari, the governing body concluded that Malaysia fielded ineligible players during their 2-0 victory over Nepal and their 4-0 win against Vietnam last year.

This penalty is the culmination of a big scandal involving seven foreign-born players who were found to have falsified their naturalization documents to represent the Malaysia national team.

Since both fixtures were part of the final qualifying round for the 2027 Asian Cup, they fall strictly under the AFC's management and jurisdiction.

Consequently, the committee declared Malaysia the loser of both matches, officially recording the results as 0-3 forfeits.

This result changed the standings in Group F.

By stripping Malaysia of six crucial points, the decision secured Vietnam's ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia, placing them at the top of the group.

In addition to overturning the match results, the AFC also fined Malaysia US$50,000 for breaching eligibility regulations.

FAM announced in a statement that it will submit a written request for an explanation from the committee regarding the reasons for the decision before considering further steps.

Malaysia also has the right to take the case to the AFC Appeals Committee and then to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

In September 2025, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee determined that Malaysia used forged or invalid documents in player registration files. This severe violation of international football principles involved Joao Figueiredo, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Facundo Garces, Jon Irazabal, Gabriel Palmero and Hector Hevel.

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) was fined 350,000 Swiss francs (US$450,000), and each player was fined 2,000 francs and banned from all football activities for 12 months.

Following an unsuccessful appeal to FIFA, Malaysia took the case to CAS, which yielded little change. The preliminary ruling issued last week upheld the majority of FIFA's sanctions against FAM, only modifying the 12-month ban by narrowing the scope to official matches rather than all football activities.

CAS noted that this is a provisional decision, and a fully reasoned, legally binding written ruling will be issued in due course.