Last week, Fifa issued a statement saying that contrary to documents submitted by FAM claiming that the grandparents of seven naturalised players were born in Malaysia, its own investigation found original records indicating the grandparents were actually born in Spain, Argentina, Brazil, and the Netherlands.
FAM deputy president S Sivasundaram today said it has formed a committee to prevent this issue from happening again.
“The general secretary will be suspended with immediate effect in order to allow the committee to carry out its duties,” he told a press conference at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here.
“We want the investigation to be carried out transparently. Let the committee decide what went wrong.”
Noor Azman previously said that the dispute stemmed from a “technical error” by an administrative staff in FAM when submitting documents to Fifa.
Sivasundaram said FAM’s executive committee made the decision to suspend Noor Azman yesterday.
FAM and seven naturalised Malaysian footballers were penalised by Fifa last month after the world football body said FAM had submitted falsified documents to confirm the seven players’ eligibility prior to Malaysia’s 2027 Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam on June 10.
FAM was fined 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 million), while the players – Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel – were each fined 2,000 Swiss francs (about RM10,560) and suspended for 12 months from all football-related activities.
In a statement last week, FAM said the dispute stemmed from an “administrative error” after a staff member mistakenly uploaded documents from an agent instead of official ones issued by the national registration department (JPN).
When asked whether any action had been taken against the staff member for the error, Sivasundaram said the committee was working to identify the staff member involved.
FAM has appealed Fifa’s decision, the result of which will be delivered by Oct 30. A failed appeal could result in points deduction for the national team in their ongoing 2027 Asian Cup qualifying campaign.
Malaysia beat Laos 5-1 in their 2027 Asian Cup qualifier on Tuesday to maintain their unbeaten record after four matches, keeping them top of Group F with 12 points, followed by Vietnam (9), Laos (3) and Nepal (0).
Malaysia will face Nepal on Nov 18 before concluding their campaign against Vietnam in Hanoi next March.