{
  "id": 17577175,
  "title": "7 ‘heritage’ players suspension ends, free to play, says MFL",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/01/7-heritage-players-suspension-ends-free-to-play-says-mfl-17577175",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-01T10:07:38.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2026/11/01/7-heritage-players-suspension-ends-free-to-play-says-mfl"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Malaysian Football League (MFL) announced that seven 'heritage' players, previously subject to 12-month suspensions by Fifa, are now free to resume their football careers. The suspensions were lifted on October 30, as confirmed by the MFL's circular, which has been widely shared on social media. The seven players involved are Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Gabriel Palmero, Jon Irazabal, and Hector Hevel. Among them, four players - Figueiredo, Palmero, Irazabal, and Hevel - are associated with Johor Darul Takzim (JDT), while Holgado is close to signing with Brunei-based club DPMM FC. The controversy began last September when Fifa discovered that falsified documents were used to validate the eligibility of the foreign-born players for representing Malaysia in international matches. Although the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) partially overturned the sanctions in March, the players were still required to serve 12-month bans for official matches only.",
  "summary": "Malaysian Football League confirms that the seven foreigners sanctioned for using falsified documents to play for the national team have served their one year ban.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}