Malaysia call up 15 naturalized players for Laos clashes in Asian Cup qualifiers

Most of the naturalized players are regulars: Daniel Ting, Stuart Wilkin, Declan Lambert (U.K.), La’Vere Corbin-Ong (Barbados), Richard Chin (Seychelles), Junior Eldstal (Sweden), Quentin Cheng, Dominic Tan (China), Dion Cools (Belgium) and Nooa Laine (Finland).

Chin, first called up in September for friendlies against Singapore and Palestine, was born in England in 2002 to a Seychellois mother. Playing well at full-back or defensive midfield, he is currently a player of Raith Rovers in the Scottish Premiership.

Defender Richard Chin (C) warms up before the friendly match against Singapore at Bukit Jalil Stadium, Malaysia on Sept. 4, 2025. Photo by FAM

Four of the five foreign players are familiar: Endrick and Paulo Josue (Brazil), Sergio Aguero (Argentina) and Romel Morales (Colombia).

Jordan Mintah (Ghana) receives his first call-up. The 30-year-old winger has played in Malaysia since 2020 for Terengganu, Kuala Lumpur City and now Kuching City. By August 2025, he will have completed five years of continuous residence, qualifying him for Malaysian citizenship and national-team eligibility.

Malaysia previously called up another African-born attacker, Mohamadou Sumareh (Gambia), who made 33 appearances and scored seven goals.

The selection comes amid major disruption after FIFA banned seven key players for 12 months on Sept. 26 for eligibility violations tied to falsified documents. The sanctioned players, said to have claimed ancestry through grandparents, are Imanol Machuca, Rodrigo Holgado, Facundo Garcés (Argentina), Joao Figueiredo (Brazil), Jon Irazabal, Gabriel Palmero (Spain) and Héctor Hevel (Netherlands). They all played in Malaysia's 4-0 victory over Vietnam at the qualifying match on June 10.

FAM is awaiting the final written ruling before filing an appeal.

FAM will first appeal to the FIFA Appeals Committee. If unsuccessful, it can go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, a process that could take months.

The Asian Football Confederation is monitoring the case and will wait for a final FIFA ruling before taking any action on match results. If the violations are upheld, Malaysia could face forfeits (0–3 vs Nepal and Vietnam) and even disqualification from the qualifiers.

The new team of 29 players will gather on Oct. 6 in Kuala Lumpur. Cklamovski will shorten the list to 23 before traveling to Laos on Oct. 9, with the return match in Malaysia on Oct. 14. Despite the absence of key players, Malaysia are favored to win both fixtures.

The team are leading Group F with six points, three clear of Vietnam and Laos.