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According to Asian Football Confederation (AFC) secretary general Windsor Paul John, although both Malaysia and Timor-Leste have committed severe naturalization fraud, the contexts of the two incidents may lead to different disciplinary actions.
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Asian Football Confederation secretary general Windsor Paul John attends a press conference at the Football Association of Malaysia headquarters on March 16, 2026. Photo by AFP |
In 2017, the AFC revoked the eligibility of 12 Brazilian-born Timor-Leste players who had participated in matches between 2011 and 2015. These violations were officially confirmed after the Ministry of Justice of Timor-Leste announced that the passports issued to this group were illegal.
The country's football association was found guilty of falsifying birth certificates, leading to the immediate annulment of 29 match results, including seven matches in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, which also served as the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers. Timor-Leste were also banned from participating in the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers.
Malaysia are facing a similar case. FIFA recently determined that seven foreign-born players used invalid birth certificates to falsely register as players of Malaysian origins. As a result, these players were banned from all official matches for 12 months, starting in September 2025, and fined 2,000 Swiss francs (US$2,500) each.
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) was also fined 350,000 Swiss francs. Malaysia's subsequent appeals to both FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) were ultimately unsuccessful.
This case is now being handled by the AFC. The primary issue is that Malaysia fielded these ineligible players in their two crucial victories against Nepal (2-0) and Vietnam (4-0) during the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. Besides the risk of having those results overturned into 0-3 forfeit losses, Malaysia can also be banned from the next Asian Cup qualifiers, just like Timor-Leste.
However, AFC secretary general Windsor Paul has stated that the two cases have different contexts.
"In the Timor-Leste case, the competition had already finished before the offense was discovered," he said at a press conference on Monday, as quoted by New Straits Times. "When the competition is already over and you find the offense, you cannot punish backwards. You have to punish forward. That is why Timor-Leste were banned from participating in the next edition."
Malaysia's violations were discovered while the current tournament is still actively underway. Windsor Paul emphasized that this timeline means any form of punishment can and will be applied immediately to the ongoing qualifiers.
"You cannot say the Timor-Leste case and the FAM case are the same," he added. "The situation is not the same."
According to regulations, the AFC's potential penalties include a 0-3 forfeit loss for teams using ineligible players. Furthermore, both the players and their federation can be fined at least $1,000. This potential penalty is similar to FIFA's earlier decision to hand Malaysia 0-3 forfeit defeats in their 2025 friendly matches against Cape Verde, Singapore and Palestine.
From the initial inquiry to the final penalty, FIFA and the AFC took approximately 12 months to fully process the Timor-Leste case. Meanwhile, the case of Malaysia has already entered its eighth month.
Following the CAS's preliminary ruling on March 5, the AFC's Disciplinary and Ethics Committee officially began disciplinary proceedings. As a first step, they granted FAM a window of 7 to 10 days to provide formal written explanations. Afterward, the committee will review the case before issuing a final ruling based on the files already provided by FIFA and CAS. Should FAM feel the penalty is unfair, they can take the case to the AFC Appeals Committee and to CAS.
Windsor Paul hopes that all involved parties will refrain from spreading misinformation during this time. He clarified that the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee cannot act beyond its assigned authority to minimize the possibility of future appeals.
In addition, a team of 20 experts from the AFC and FIFA started a comprehensive inspection of FAM's internal operations in February. Investigators have already compiled approximately 100 files across various departments of the federation. The goal is to complete the final inspection report and hold an extraordinary FAM congress before the 2026 World Cup, according to The Star.
If any violations are discovered during the inspection process, the individuals involved will be subject to disciplinary action by the AFC.
