Cape Verde Island has lost their place in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) playoffs round of the World Cup qualifiers, after fielding an ineligible player.
The Federation of International Football Association (Fifa) called the Cape Verdean Football Association (FCF) to sanction them for fielding an ineligible player, Fernando Varela, against Tunisia in their 2-0 victory in Rades in the preliminary round on September 7.
Fifa said Cape Verde has now forfeited the match and awarded 3-0 in favour of the north Africans.
Cape Verde Island, who had earlier benefited from similar ruling on Equatorial Guinea to grab the playoffs ticket, now drops to second place in Group B with nine points while Tunisia finish top of the table with 14 points and now advances to the two-legged playoff round which begins in October and ends November.
Varela featured in Cape Verde’s away victory over Tunisia despite having received a red card on 24th March for unsporting conduct towards a match official during the side’s 4-3 loss to Equatorial Guinea.
Ironically the Cape Verdeans were awarded the points from the match in March after Fifa ruled opponents Equatorial Guinea had used an ineligible player Emilio Nsue Lopez based on nationality.
The Fifa statement added that: “The FCF has also received a fine of $6,400 after the FIFA Disciplinary Committee considered the FCF liable for having breached art. 55 par. 1 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and art.8 of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Regulations”
The draw for the playoffs round of the Fifa World Cup qualifiers CAF zone comes up next Monday, 16 September in Cairo.
