By Andrew Warshaw
September 5 – In a bizarre case of possible deliberate deception, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have suspended United Arab Emirates-based Wanderley Santos Monteiro Junior for 60 days as they investigate whether the Brazilian-born forward has been using a forged Indonesian passport.
Wanderley signed for Al Nasr in the summer from Sharjah and had been registered with the AFC as an Asian player as a result of the documentation.
He scored twice on his debut for Nasr in their 3-0 victory over El Jaish in the first leg of their Asian Champions League (ACL) quarter-final tie last month, only for Indonesian state authorities to announced that Wanderley’s Indonesian passport was a “forged or falsified” document.
“According to the regulations (Article 26.4.3), any player participating in the ACL shall be deemed ineligible if the AFC determines that any document submitted during registration is false,” said an AFC statement.
Indonesian officials claim that Wanderley has never even been to the country and once the investigation is complete, the file will be handed to the AFC Disciplinary Committee for any sanction.
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