Malaysia is likely to be penalized with five 0-3 losses due to improper naturalization.

The ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) puts Malaysian football at risk of being penalized with five losses for using players who did not meet regulations.

After months of legal disputes, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) issued a ruling related to the controversial naturalization scandal in Malaysian football. The body reviewed appeals against the previous penalty imposed by FIFA on seven players found to have used invalid documents to qualify for international matches.

According to the official announcement, CAS rejected the appeal from the Malaysian Football Association (FAM) but partially accepted the appeal from the seven players. This ruling confirms that violations related to naturalization records are established, paving the way for governing bodies to consider additional disciplinary actions against Malaysian football.

If the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) applies a similar penalty as FIFA, the Malaysian national team could face a total of five 0-3 losses for using players who did not meet eligibility requirements. Previously, FIFA canceled the results and penalized Malaysia with three losses in friendly matches against Cape Verde, Singapore, and Palestine.Therefore, if AFC officially penalizes Malaysia with 0-3 losses against Vietnam and Nepal in the Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers, Malaysia's total number of penalized losses will increase to five.

Malaysian media has even begun preparing for this worst-case scenario.Some newspapers in the country stated that CAS rejecting FAM's appeal almost closes the door on reversing the situation. Since FIFA previously applied 0-3 penalties for those friendly matches, AFC is highly likely to follow the same precedent.

In the new ruling, CAS stated that theypartially accepted the appeal from the seven players against FIFA, regarding penalties for falsifying naturalization records and eligibility requirements”.However, the fraudulent actions were confirmed, resulting in the players receiving a 12-month ban from official matches.

Meanwhile, the appeal from FAM did not yield positive results. CAS emphasized: “Meanwhile, the joint appeal from the Malaysian Football Association (FAM) WAS REJECTED, meaning the penalty of 350,000 Swiss francs (CHF) imposed by FIFA on FAM remains unchanged”.This increases the pressure on Malaysian football.

Following CAS's ruling, AFC confirmed that the case will be forwarded to the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee for evaluation of next steps.If penalties are applied in the Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers, the situation in Group F could completely change, and Malaysia's dream of reaching the finals is likely to be shattered.