Facundo Garcés

Facundo Garcés
Personal information
Full name Facundo Tomás Garcés
Date of birth (1999-09-05) 5 September 1999
Place of birth Santa Fe, Argentina
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Position Centre-back[1]
Team information
Current team
 Alavés
Number 2
Youth career
Club El Quillá
Colón
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2020–2024 Colón 116 (3)
2025– Alavés 20 (0)
International career‡
2025 Malaysia 2 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 27 February 2026
‡ National team caps and goals as of 6 September 2025

Facundo Tomás Garcés (born 5 September 1999) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Deportivo Alavés.[2] He played for the Malaysia national team twice;[3] however, he is currently suspended from all football related activities after being sanctioned by FIFA in September 2025 for forging documents related to his Malaysian ancestry.[4]

Club career

Colón

Garcés played for Club El Quillá at youth level.[5] He first made the senior teamsheet for Colón in May 2017 for a Primera División match as an unused substitute.[2] Garcés soon headed back to the reserves, before returning to the senior bench in April and May 2019 – though again wouldn't make an appearance versus Gimnasia y Esgrima or, in the Copa Sudamericana, River Plate.[2] He went unused a further seven times, before belatedly making his debut – as a starter – in a Copa de la Liga Profesional win over Central Córdoba on 4 December 2020.[6][7][8]

Alavés

On 3 August 2024, Spanish La Liga side Deportivo Alavés agreed to a pre-contract with Garcés, effective as of the following 1 January 2025; he signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with the club.[9] Garces make his debut for the club in a league match against RCD Mallorca on 2 March. Alavés suspended Garcés following his sanction by FIFA in September but expressed their support to him.[10]

International career

Garcés was called up to the training camp of the latter ahead of the closed-door friendly match against Cape Verde and the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification match against Vietnam in June 2025.[11][12] Garcés made his international debut on 10 June in the match against Vietnam at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.[13]

He was among the seven Malaysian heritage players sanctioned by FIFA on 26 September 2025 where the disciplinary committee found that Football Association of Malaysia used doctored documentation to field the players in the Vietnam match on 10 June.[14][15][16][17]

Personal life

Born in Argentina, Garcés claimed to be of Malaysian descent through his grandmother.[18] On 2 June 2025, Garcés officially obtained Malaysia citizenship.[12] However, FIFA released statement that his grandmother was not born in nor has Malaysian ancestry, as the documentation submitted by Football Association of Malaysia was proven to be doctored.[14]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 27 February 2026[2]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Colón 2020–21 Primera División 4[nb 1] 0 1 0 — — 5 0
2021 Primera División 37[nb 1] 0 0 0 — — 37 0
2022 Primera División 34[nb 1] 2 1 0 8[b] 0 — 43 2
2023 Primera División 41[nb 1] 1 3 0 — — 44 1
2024 Primera División 0 0 0 0 — — 0 0
Total 116 3 5 0 8 0 0 0 129 3
Alavés 2024–25 La Liga 10 0 — — — 10 0
2025–26 La Liga 10 0 0 0 — — 10 0
Total 20 0 0 0 — — 20 0
Career total 136 3 5 0 8 0 0 0 149 3
  1. ^ Includes Copa Argentina
  2. ^ Appearances in Copa Libertadores

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Malaysia 2025 2 0
Total 2 0

Honours

Colón

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Soccerway counts Copa de la Liga Profesional appearances as league appearances.

References

  1. ^ a b "Facundo Garcés". World Football. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Argentina – F. Garcés". Soccerway. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  3. ^ Azharie, Farah (2 June 2025). "Argentina-born Garces joins Harimau Malaya |". NST Online. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  4. ^ "FIFA sanctions Football Association of Malaysia and seven players". inside.fifa.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2025. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  5. ^ "Colón oficializó el contrato de Facundo Garcés". SOL 91.5. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Facundo Garcés firmó su primer contrato con Colón". El Litoral. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Colón: el nuevo desafío que se le abriría a Facundo Garcés". Uno Santa Fe. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Facundo Garcés firmó su primer contrato con Colón". Santa Fe Deportivo. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Acuerdo entre el Deportivo Alavés y Facundo Garcés" [Agreement between Deportivo Alavés and Facundo Garcés] (in Spanish). Deportivo Alavés. 3 August 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  10. ^ Rajan, K. (27 September 2025). "Alaves drop Malaysia's Garces from La Liga match | New Straits Times". New Straits Times. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  11. ^ Azharie, Farah (2 June 2025). "Argentina-born Garces joins Harimau Malaya". NST Online. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  12. ^ a b Rajan, K. (3 June 2025). "Garces' 'granny connection' to Malaysia | New Straits Times". NST Online.
  13. ^ "Match Report of Malaysia vs Vietnam – 2025-06-10 – AFC Asian Cup Qualification – Global Sports Archive". globalsportsarchive.com. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  14. ^ a b "Malaysian players banned after using forged documents to play qualifier v Vietnam". Reuters. 26 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  15. ^ "Malaysian footballers banned after using forged documents to play against Vietnam". The Straits Times. 26 September 2025. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  16. ^ "Poor advice? Who represents Imanol Machuca and Facundo Garcés". OneFootball (in French). 26 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  17. ^ D'Cruz, Frankie (26 September 2025). "Forgery, fraud, and football: FAM has shamed the nation". Free Malaysia Today | FMT. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  18. ^ K. Rajan (20 August 2025). "Facundo clarifies his Harimau Malaya status". New Straits Times.
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