MFL Allows Three Suspended Jdt Heritage Players To Return To M-League 

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- Three Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) heritage players, namely Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel, have been cleared to resume action in any Malaysia League (M-League)  competition.

The development was confirmed by the Malaysian Football League (MFL) in a statement today, following the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to allow an application for a Stay of Execution.

“MFL confirms that it has received official notification from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) regarding the decision by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) to suspend the enforcement of the suspensions imposed on seven heritage players at the domestic and continental levels with immediate effect,” the statement said.

Previously, FAM had informed that all seven Harimau Malaya heritage players who were suspended for 12 months by FIFA had been allowed to continue their careers and participate in football-related activities until a final decision on the appeal is made.

Earlier, on Sept 26, FIFA confirmed that FAM and seven national heritage players were found to have breached Article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) in relation to document falsification offences.

Investigations found that FAM had submitted documents believed to have been falsified to verify the eligibility of the players, allowing them to feature when Malaysia defeated Vietnam 4–0 in Group F of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers here in June last year.

Following this, FAM was ordered to pay a fine of CHF350,000 (approximately RM1.8 million), while each player was fined CHF2,000 (around RM11,000) and suspended from all football-related activities for 12 months.CHF is the code for the Swiss franc.

Hopes of having the sanctions reduced were dashed after FIFA’s Appeal Committee on Nov 3 rejected the appeals by FAM and all the players, thereby upholding the Disciplinary Committee’s decision on the serious breach of Article 22 of the FDC.

As a result, FAM had no choice but to bring the case to CAS to ensure justice is upheld and to defend the integrity of the player eligibility process as set by the Malaysian government and the relevant bodies.

-- BERNAMA