KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — Fifa, world football’s governing body, has confirmed that Dutch club Go Ahead Eagles player Mats Deijl does not meet the eligibility requirements to represent Malaysia through his ancestry, reigniting criticism of a rule that football pundits have long described as ambiguous.
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said in a statement that 27-year-old Deijl only has Malaysian ancestry through his great-grandparent, not through his grandparents, as stipulated by FIFA regulations and therefore cannot be considered as heritage player.
FAM said Fifa confirmed this in a letter dated September 25 after the Malaysian football body queried Deijl’s eligibility.
What are the rules for international representation?
Fifa’s statutes, specifically Articles 5 to 8 of the Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes, outline the rules for national team eligibility.
Article 5.1 states: “Any person holding a permanent nationality that is not dependent on residence in a certain country is eligible to play for the representative teams of the association of that country.”
Article 5.2 adds that: “...any player who has already participated in a match (either in full or in part) in an official competition of any category or any type of football for one association may not play an international match for a representative team of another association.”
However, Article 8 allows certain nationalities to play for more than one representative association. For instance, people from the United States, American Samoa, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, or Puerto Rico are still considered to have American nationality.
A player with dual nationality must meet certain criteria when choosing which country to represent. Article 6 of the Statutes states:
“A player who, under the terms of Article 5, is eligible to represent more than one association on account of his nationality, may play in an international match for one of these associations only if, in addition to having the relevant nationality, he fulfils at least one of the following conditions:
a) He was born on the territory of the relevant association; b) His biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant association; c) His grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the relevant association; d) He has lived continuously on the territory of the relevant association for at least two years.”
In Deijl’s case, only his great-grandparents had Malaysian ancestry.
Why is FAM seeking out these players?
The motivation behind seeking such players is that many have experience at a higher level than local leagues, making them valuable assets on paper.
However, this is not necessarily the case. None of the current naturalised players representing Malaysia have played in what Fifa considers top-tier leagues.
A common criticism is that quality players would prefer to play in more competitive leagues like the J-League, K-League, or the Middle East, and would only choose Malaysia if they fail to secure opportunities at the global level.
Local football legend Datuk Dollah Salleh is among the critics of this system. He believes heritage players should only be selected if they can genuinely make a difference to Harimau Malaya and should not be recruited arbitrarily.
“This is our problem — whenever there are heritage players in foreign clubs, we treat them like stars, even though we don’t know what division they are playing in; sometimes they are just average teams,” he said.
However, some believe these players have had a positive impact. The national team, led by South Korean coach Kim Pan-gon, saw an increase in naturalised players, and Harimau Malaya’s Fifa ranking improved under his leadership, although they have yet to win any major regional trophies.
How many ‘heritage’ players are in Harimau Malaya today?
In 2023, Malaysia and Hong Kong had the highest number of naturalised players at the Asian Cup held in Qatar, with both nations fielding 14 naturalised players.
The team led by Kim featured four naturalised players: Endrick Dos Santos, Mohamadou Sumareh, Paulo Josue, and Romel Morales. The squad also included 10 “mixed ancestry” players: Matthew Davies, Daniel Ting, Dominic Tan, Junior Eldstal, Dion Cools, La’Vere Corbin-Ong, Stuart Wilkin, Brendan Gan, Natxo Insa, and Darren Lok.
