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The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has agreed to temporarily lift the ban imposed on Malaysia. |
On the evening of January 27, the Football Association of Malaysia informed FIFA of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision. In response, FIFA stated that it had “sent notices to all member associations and confederations, requesting a temporary suspension of the implementation of the sanction at both domestic and international levels for the duration of the appeal proceedings.”
The seven players affected by this decision are: Facundo Garcés, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Gabriel Palmeiro, John Irazabal, and Hector Hefele. All of these players had previously been classified by FIFA as having eligibility issues and received 12-month bans.
Last September, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee issued a decision to suspend this group of players, and imposed a fine of 350,000 Swiss francs on the Malaysian Football Association. Each player was also forced to pay an additional personal fine of 2,000 Swiss francs.
Following the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to temporarily suspend the implementation of the penalty, the entire penalty is now suspended, and will only take effect after a final decision by the court. This means that the seven players are allowed to return to play until the case is officially decided.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has not yet set a date for announcing the final ruling. At the same time, this temporary decision is seen as an important step to protect the players’ right to compete and help Malaysia avoid disrupting its team during this sensitive period.
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