Saifuddin said the provision allows the registrar-general or JPN director-general to register births if satisfied with the evidence provided that the birth had occurred.

“We conducted interviews and verified the documents submitted,” he told a press conference at Parliament today.

“In this case, documents or birth information about the grandfather and grandmother were submitted.”

The seven players who were sanctioned are Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomas Garces, Rodrigo Julian Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal Iraurgui and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano.

Fifa said the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) had submitted doctored documents to field the players in an Asian Cup qualifier.

The global football body’s probe found falsified documents claiming that the players’ grandparents were Malaysian when records showed they were born in Spain, Argentina, Brazil and the Netherlands.

FAM has maintained that it will appeal the sanctions. It also disputes Fifa’s findings, saying the international football organisation provided no evidence to support its claims

Asked if JPN stood by its process, Saifuddin said: “There’s no need for us to go beyond the legal requirement. There’s no basis for that.”

He also maintained that JPN had not detected any document falsification and that all seven players met the constitutional requirements for Malaysian citizenship.

He said the issue arose because of Fifa regulations, which require proof that a player is eligible to represent a country. Under these rules, a player must have been born in the territory of the relevant football association – in this case, FAM – or have a parent or grandparent born there.

“When Fifa said there was document falsification, it didn’t refer to documents from us (JPN). We only produced the birth certificate issued under Section 10A.

“I used authoritative sources to obtain citizenship. There’s no requirement for grandparents’ birth certificates,” he added.