They wore our colours, the system broke them

Free Malaysia Today

Used, discarded and shamed — seven footballers pay for Malaysia’s deceit. Justice begins with confronting how institutions failed them.   Read More:  https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2025/11/06/they-wore-our-colours-the-system-broke-them   Free Malaysia Today is an independent, bi-lingual news portal with a focus on Malaysian current affairs.    Subscribe to our channel - http://bit.ly/2Qo08ry   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Check us out at https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com  Follow FMT on Facebook: https://bit.ly/49JJoo5  Follow FMT on Dailymotion: https://bit.ly/2WGITHM  Follow FMT on X: https://bit.ly/48zARSW  Follow FMT on Instagram: https://bit.ly/48Cq76h  Follow FMT on TikTok : https://bit.ly/3uKuQFp  Follow FMT Berita on TikTok: https://bit.ly/48vpnQG  Follow FMT Telegram - https://bit.ly/42VyzMX  Follow FMT LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/42YytEb  Follow FMT Lifestyle on Instagram: https://bit.ly/42WrsUj  Follow FMT on WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/49GMbxW  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Download FMT News App:  Google Play – http://bit.ly/2YSuV46  App Store – https://apple.co/2HNH7gZ  Huawei AppGallery - https://bit.ly/2D2OpNP   #FMTNews

Transcript

00:00Malaysia's biggest football scandal isn't just about fake passports.

00:05It's also about what happens when bureaucracy, deceit, and silence destroy lives downstream.

00:11Seven men, Garseh, Arocha, Horgado, Macuka, Figuredu, Arazabal, and Hevel,

00:18once wore Malaysia's colours. Now they wear the mark of disgrace.

00:22FIFA's verdict is clear. A one-year global ban, a RM11,000 fine each,

00:28and total suspension from football. No matches, no income, no future, at least not for now.

00:35The unluckiest was Immanuel Macuka. He played just about 20 minutes,

00:40a substitute appearance in the 4-0 win over Vietnam in the Asian Cup qualifiers.

00:45That single match in June triggered the complaint that exposed the fraud.

00:50Behind the headlines lies the human wreckage. Careers frozen, contracts void, deportations looming.

00:56They trusted the papers, the process, the promise of belonging.

01:00But the system that invited them also betrayed them.

01:04FIFA may have punished deceit, but the punishment spilled far wider.

01:09Because when an association fails, the players fall first.

01:13And when institutions lie, it's people, not policies, who pay.

01:17Can they fight back? The court of arbitration for sport offers a door.

01:22Narrow, costly, uncertain.

01:25Even a win there won't erase the stain.

01:28Malaysia doesn't owe them absolution,

01:30but it owes them recognition that they were caught in a collapse larger than themselves.

01:35The deeper question is ours.

01:38Who built the machinery that made this possible?

01:40Who signed? Who approved? Who looked away?

01:43The reckoning can't stop at the seven.

01:46It must go up the chain to the architects of deceit, not just its victims.

01:51Because this isn't a story about football,

01:53it's a story about trust, broken, buried, and now demanding to be rebuilt.

01:58Their ruin is Malaysia's mirror,

02:00and what it reflects is not just failure,

02:03but the cost of forgetting why transparency matters.

02:06For the full story of how systems fail and lives unravel,

02:11read Frankie The Cruises They Wore Our Colors,

02:13The System Broke Them, only on FMT.

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