Malaysia beat Nepal 1-0, maintaining unbeaten streak in 2025
Beating Nepal 1-0 in the 5th round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, Malaysia ended 2025 unbeaten in official matches, but faces the risk of being penalized with a 5-match loss according to FIFA's conclusion.
Malaysia beat Nepal 1-0 in the fifth round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers without their naturalized players due to a FIFA ban. This minimal victory ended a year of 2025 unbeaten in all official matches for Malaysia: 8 matches, 7 wins and 1 draw.
Highlights: 3 minimum points, winning streak in qualifying
Against an opponent rated lower, Malaysia struggled but still kept all 3 points. This result helped Malaysia maintain a winning streak after the first 5 rounds of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.
Results of the first 5 rounds of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers
- Nepal 0-2 Malaysia
- Malaysia 1-0 Nepal
- Malaysia 4-0 Vietnam
- Malaysia 3-0 Laos
- Malaysia 5-0 Laos
In the qualifying campaign alone, Malaysia won all 5 of the above matches, scoring a total of 15 goals and conceding none according to the data mentioned.
2025 Highlights
If only official matches that count for FIFA ranking points are counted, Malaysia will play 8 matches in 2025: won 7, drew 1 (1-1 with Cape Verde in June). During the same period, Malaysia played a closed friendly match against Cape Verde and lost 0-3; this match does not count for FIFA ranking points.
| Category | Data |
|---|---|
| Official match in 2025 | 8 |
| Win | 7 |
| Peace | 1 (1-1 with Cape Verde, June) |
| Lose (officially) | 0 |
| Closed friendly (no points) | 1 match, lost 0-3 to Cape Verde |
Thanks to this streak of results, Malaysia is the only team in Southeast Asia that has not lost an official match in 2025 according to data sources.
Disciplinary twist: 7 naturalized players and the risk of losing
Along with the achievements on the field, Malaysia faced a major impact from the disciplinary action. According to the conclusion of FIFA, 7 players including Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomás Garcés, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, João Vítor Brandão Figueiredo, Jon Irazábal Iraurgui and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano, along with the Football Association of Malaysia, violated Article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, related to the act of falsifying and forging documents to legalize the status of playing for the Malaysian national team.
The 7 players mentioned above all played in the 4-0 victory over the Vietnamese team in June 2025. From this conclusion, the Malaysian team will almost certainly be penalized with a total of 5 matches, including 3 friendly matches with Cape Verde, Singapore, Palestine and 2 wins against Vietnam, Nepal in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. All 5 matches mentioned above are likely to be penalized with a 0-3 loss due to the use of more or less players in the group of 7 violators.
Strategic perspective: momentum and risk of reversal
In terms of form, the unbeaten streak officially reflects Malaysia’s stability in 2025, outperforming regional rivals according to the source data. However, if matches are lost due to disciplinary action, Malaysia’s performance and FIFA ranking could reverse sharply, directly affecting the points, ranking position and psychological momentum built up throughout the year.
Reaction from opponents
Following the controversial story about naturalized players in March, Nepal's interim coach admitted that he was not sure whether the country's Football Association would complain to the AFC about Malaysia.
The big picture
Malaysia ended 2025 with two distinct bright and dark sides: stable performance, clean losses in official matches; and disciplinary risks that could see five results annulled, most likely a 0-3 loss. While awaiting the final decision from the competent authority, the 1-0 victory over Nepal is still a representative slice of how Malaysia has gone through a turbulent year: brave on the field, but also paying a heavy price for administrative violations of sports.
