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

Seven heritage players who were previously suspended for 12 months by Fifa are now free to resume their football-related activities, according to a circular from the Malaysian Football League (MFL) dated October 30. The players, whose suspensions had ended, include Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Gabriel Palmero, Jon Irazabal, and Hector Hevel.

Four of the players, Figueiredo, Palmero, Irazabal, and Hevel, are part of Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT), while Holgado is reportedly close to joining DPMM FC, a club from Brunei. The controversy surrounding the players began in September 2022 when Fifa found that falsified documents were used to support their eligibility to represent Malaysia in international matches.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) partially upheld the players' appeals against the sanctions in March, but the bans were still imposed for official matches only.

Brief written by urgent.news from Malay Mail's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.