The Timor Leste passports for nine Brazilian football players have been declared invalid as the AFC confirmed on Wednesday.
Previously, the Timor Leste Football Federation (FFTL) has been found culpable of using falsified documents and birth certificates to allow Brazilian born players to turn out for the tiny South East Asian nation.
According to an AFC report, the use of Brazilian ringers in Timor Leste matches dates back to 2012 and includes their first ever international football victory a 5-1 drubbing of Cambodia.
Following the issue, the FFTL has been ordered to forfeit those matches and was fined $20,000, with an additional penalty of $56,000 suspended for a probationary period of two years.
The AFC released a statement on Wednesday declared that the Timor Leste passports of the nine Brazilian players have been declared “null and void” after receiving confirmation from the country’s Ministry of Justice via embassy in Malaysia.
Diogo Rangel, Felipe Bertoldo, Jairo Neto, Junior Aparecido Guimora de Souza, Patrick Fabiano, Paulo Martins, Paulo Helber, Ramon Saro and Rodrigo Silva, who all played in World Cup Asian qualifying matches in 2015, are the names on the list.