Malaysia’s seven heritage players free to play again as Fifa bans end, four of them at JDT

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — Seven heritage players who were previously handed 12-month suspensions by Fifa are now free to resume all football-related activities with effect from today.

The Malaysian Football League (MFL) confirmed this in a circular dated Oct 30, stating that the suspensions imposed on the players had ended yesterday.

MFL chief executive officer Mohd Shazli Shaik Mohd confirmed the authenticity of the circular, which was also widely circulated on social media.

“That is correct, it is genuine,” he told Bernama when contacted.

The seven players are Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Gabriel Palmero, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel.

Of the seven players, four – Figueiredo, Palmero, Irazabal and Hevel – play for Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), while Holgado is on the verge of joining DPMM FC, as previously confirmed by the Brunei-based club.

The controversy involving the seven players came to light in September last year after Fifa found that falsified documents had been used to support the eligibility of the foreign-born players to represent Malaysia in international matches.

In March, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) partially upheld the seven players’ appeals against Fifa’s sanctions over the falsification of naturalisation and eligibility documents.

In its operative decision, issued without detailed reasons, CAS ruled that the players would still serve 12-month suspensions.

However, the bans applied only to official matches and not to all football-related activities. — Bernama

* Editor’s note: Fifa stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association, football’s world governing body. DPMM stands for Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota, the Brunei club’s name, which refers to the Crown Prince of Brunei.

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吉隆坡，11月1日讯——此前被国际足联禁赛12个月的七名原住民球员，从今天起可以恢复所有与足球相关的活动。

马来西亚足球联赛（MFL）在10月30日发布的一份通告中证实了这一点，通告称对球员的停赛处罚已于昨日结束。

MFL首席执行官莫哈末·沙兹利·沙伊克·莫哈末证实了该通告的真实性，该通告也在社交媒体上广泛传播。

“没错，这是真的，”他接受马新社采访时说道。

这七名球员分别是法昆多·加尔塞斯、罗德里戈·霍尔加多、伊曼诺·马丘卡、若奥·菲格雷多、加布里埃尔·帕尔梅罗、乔恩·伊拉扎瓦尔和赫克托·赫维尔。

七名球员中，有四名——菲格雷多、帕尔梅罗、伊拉扎巴尔和赫维尔——效力于柔佛达鲁塔克辛（JDT），而霍尔加多即将加盟DPMM FC，此前这家位于文莱的俱乐部已证实了这一点。

去年 9 月，国际足联发现有伪造文件被用来证明这些外籍球员有资格代表马来西亚参加国际比赛，随后涉及这七名球员的争议曝光。

今年 3 月，体育仲裁法庭 (CAS) 部分支持了 7 名球员针对国际足联因伪造入籍和资格文件而受到的制裁提出的上诉。

国际体育仲裁法庭 (CAS) 在其未给出详细理由的裁决中裁定，球员仍将受到 12 个月的禁赛处罚。

然而，这些禁令仅适用于正式比赛，而非所有与足球相关的活动。——马新社

*编者注：FIFA是国际足球联合会（Fédération Internationale de Football Association）的缩写，是世界足球管理机构。DPMM是杜利彭吉兰穆达马科塔（Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota）的缩写，是文莱俱乐部的名称，指的是文莱王储。

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