Colombian club to offload Argentine player sanctioned in Malaysia naturalization saga

According to Colombian journalist Pipe Sierra, America de Cali have begun the process of terminating the 30-year-old forward’s contract after the FIFA Appeal Committee (FAC) dismissed the appeal from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) on Monday.

"Club America, through its lawyers, is moving forward with the process to terminate Rodrigo Holgado's contract following the response from FIFA's Appeal Committee," Sierra wrote on X.

Holgado, who scored against Vietnam in Malaysia's 4-0 victory at the Asian Cup qualifier on June 10, was suspended for 12 months on Sept. 26 along with six other players for using falsified documents to gain Malaysian naturalization.

On Monday night, FAC announced that it would uphold the decision by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee (FDC) , which fined FAM 350,000 Swiss francs (US$432,200) and the seven naturalized players 2,000 Swiss francs each.

The Argentine-born striker last played for America de Cali on Sept. 25, one day before the suspension. Previously, Holgado signed a two-year contract with the club in 2024 and is valued at around $800,000, according to Transfermarkt.

The six other players banned were Gabriel Palmero, Facundo Garces, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal, and Hector Hevel.

According to FIFA's investigation, the players allegedly used the falsified version of their grandparents' birth certificates to prove their Malaysian origin.

The case has been further exposed by Argentine newspaper Capital de Noticias. A week ago, the outlet published documents showing that the grandparents and great-grandmother of defender Facundo Garces were not from Malaysia. Garces is also reportedly facing contract termination by his Spanish club, Deportivo Alaves.

On Wednesday, Capital de Noticias released new documents related to winger Imanol Machuca of Velez Sarsfield.

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) previously claimed Machuca’s grandmother was born in Penang.

However, original documents from the Santa Fe civil authority in Argentina reportedly show his grandmother, Concepcion Agueda Alaniz, was born in the town of Roldan, Santa Fe, in 1954 to two Argentine citizens, with no connection to Malaysia.

In a past interview, Machuca claimed he could play for Malaysia due to his grandmother's ancestry, a statement now proved wrong by the new evidence.