Malaysia's football federation Friday said penalties against it were "disproportionate" after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in a case involving foreign-born players.
Switzerland-based CAS on Thursday slightly reduced sanctions against seven players banned over falsified documents used to join the national side, while upholding a FIFA $448,000 fine against the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
"While FAM respects the authority of CAS, it considers that the sanctions imposed appear disproportionate, particularly when compared to sanctions imposed in similar cases before CAS," it said in a statement.
FAM accepted responsibility for its "oversight failure" in the case, but called the outcome "deeply disappointing", especially for the players banned from official matches for 12 months.
"The players were not involved in the administrative process and had no knowledge of related matters," FAM said, insisting the seven are Malaysians who obtained citizenship in accordance with Malaysian law.
CAS ruled that the players may resume training with their clubs and participate in football-related activities, though their one-year ban from official matches -- backdated to September -- remains in force.
FIFA launched an investigation after the players helped Malaysia beat Vietnam 4–0 in a June 2025 Asian Cup qualifier.
The governing body said their naturalisations were obtained "using falsified documents" and that none had Malaysian parentage or ancestry.
Three of the players were originally Argentine, two Spanish, one Dutch and one Brazilian.
FIFA also reversed three Malaysia friendly results last year -- two of them wins -- to 3-0 defeats.
A decision on Malaysia's status in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers now needs to be taken by the Asian Football Confederation.
