KUALA LUMPUR: FIFA's 12-month suspensions on Malaysia's seven naturalised footballers will end next month. So who will they play for next?
They can return to domestic leagues, but their prospects of representing Harimau Malaya are unclear.
FIFA suspended the seven players last year over falsification of their ancestral documentation in applying for heritage players status.
Four of the seven are now with Johor Darul Ta'zim. Spanish left-back Gabriel Palmero joined JDT in August after a brief stint with Kuching City, linking up with fellow FIFA-sanctioned players Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel.
Argentine striker Rodrigo Holgado is set to join Bruneian outfit DPMM FC. Winger Imanol Machuca signed for Argentine club, CA Independiente, in July while centre-back Facundo Garces remains with La Liga side Deportivo Alaves.
Under Malaysian Football League (MFL) guidelines, clubs can register and field them as local players because they hold Malaysian identity cards and passports, thus exempting them from foreign-player quotas.
"Under MFL competition regulations, any player who possesses a Malaysian identity card and passport is eligible to be registered as a local player," the league administrator said in March.
Despite the expiry of their suspensions, FAM president Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan has said the seven cannot currently represent Malaysia.
"No. The players cannot represent the country. FIFA does not allow it. FIFA does not allow them to play for Malaysia," Ghani reportedly said in October.
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