Malaysia loses record as FIFA awards losses in all 3 matches

Malaysia no longer holds an unbeaten record for the entire year 2025 after FIFA officially awarded losses in 3 international friendly matches.

During the meeting on December 12, 2025, FIFA's Disciplinary Committee officially imposed a severe penalty on the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) for serious violations of Article 19 regarding the use of ineligible players.

Specifically, Malaysia fielded 7 naturalized players against regulations in three international “A” level matches against Cape Verde (May 29), Singapore (September 4), and Palestine (September 8). According to FIFA’s ruling, all three matches were forfeited with a 0-3 loss instead of the previous draws and wins. In addition to losing these results, FAM was fined 10,000 CHF. Currently, Malaysia is requesting FIFA to provide detailed documentation explaining the decision before considering any appeals or further actions.

With these three forfeited matches, Malaysia officially lost its unbeaten streak in 2025. Previously, they were the only team to achieve this by winning 7 matches and drawing 1 in 2025 across official friendlies and the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Malaysia concluded their final match of 2025 against Nepal in the fifth round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. Without their quality naturalized players due to FIFA’s suspension, Malaysia struggled against a much weaker opponent but ultimately secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Nepal.

Thus, after the first 5 rounds of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, Malaysia’s national team maintained a perfect winning record (victories over Nepal 2-0, 1-0, Vietnam 4-0, Laos 3-0, and 5-0). At that time, Malaysia remained the only Southeast Asian team undefeated in 2025.

Besides the FIFA sanctions for friendly matches, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) is currently appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the unauthorized use of naturalized players in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, specifically in matches against Nepal and Vietnam.

Unlike friendlies directly managed by FIFA, the final decisions for the Asian Cup qualifiers will be made by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) after receiving conclusions from FIFA and CAS. However, given the precedent of FIFA awarding losses in recent friendlies, it is highly likely that Vietnam will be granted a 3-0 forfeit win over Malaysia in this competition.