KUALA LUMPUR – La Liga side Deportivo Alavés have confirmed that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has granted Facundo Garcés provisional relief, allowing the defender to resume football-related activities while his appeal is being heard.
In an official statement, the Spanish club said CAS had upheld Garcés’ request for the provisional suspension of sanctions imposed by FIFA.
The case relates to a 12-month suspension handed down by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee on September 25 last year, a decision that was later upheld by the FIFA Appeal Committee on November 3.
According to the CAS resolution, the 12-month ban covering all football-related activities has been provisionally suspended. This means the sanction will not be enforced while CAS continues to examine the merits of the appeal.
CAS stressed that the interim measure does not prejudice its final decision, which will be delivered at a later stage.
“During this provisional period, Garcés is permitted to carry out his professional duties as normal,” Alavés said on their official website.
“As a result, Deportivo Alavés confirm that the player will rejoin the team’s training sessions with immediate effect.”
The club did not provide a timeline for the final CAS ruling.
Earlier, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said Garcés and six other players — Rodrigo Holgado, Gabriel Palmero, Imanol Machuca, João Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Héctor Hevel — who were implicated in the alleged falsification of identification documents had been allowed to resume playing.
According to FAM, CAS granted the players’ submission for a stay of execution.
The seven players were found guilty of violating Article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code. Each player was fined 2,000 Swiss francs (about RM10,000) and banned from all football-related activities worldwide for 12 months, while FAM were fined 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 million).
FIFA also annulled the results of three international matches in which ineligible players were fielded, recording the fixtures as 3–0 defeats for Malaysia.
The affected matches were the 1–1 draw against Cape Verde on May 29, the 2–1 win over Singapore on September 4, and the 1–0 victory against Palestine on September 8.
The decisions ended Malaysia’s unbeaten run in 2025 and contributed to a drop in the national team’s FIFA world ranking. — January 27, 2026