In an interview with Utusan Malaysia, the Johor regent also said  he is not worried about any potential repercussions from Fifa over his public criticism of the global football body.

“I will cover everything, it’s not public money,” he said when asked if he was prepared to assist FAM and the seven players following the sanctions imposed by Fifa.

“I’m not (worried about being sanctioned by Fifa). Go ahead.”

FAM and the seven naturalised footballers were penalised by Fifa last month after the world football body said FAM had submitted falsified documents to confirm the players’ eligibility before Malaysia’s 2027 Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam on June 10.

A Fifa investigation found that falsified documents had been used to claim that each player had a grandparent born in Malaysia, although they were actually born in Spain, Argentina, Brazil and the Netherlands.

The players are Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomás Garces, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, Joao Vitor Brandao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal Iraurgui and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano.

FAM was fined 350,000 Swiss francs (RM1.8 million) while each player was fined 2,000 Swiss francs (RM10,560) and banned for 12 months from all football-related activities.

On Monday, Fifa dismissed FAM’s appeal and upheld the sanctions on the national body and the seven players.

FAM acting president Yusoff Mahadi said the association would write to Fifa to obtain the full written grounds for its decision before appealing to CAS.

Yesterday, Tunku Ismail accused Fifa of misapplying its own rules in punishing the seven players, calling the year-long suspension “politically motivated”.

In an Instagram post, he said Article 22 of Fifa’s disciplinary code only allows punishment for those who falsify or use falsified documents, which he claimed did not apply to the players involved.