LAUSANNE, Switzerland: Iraq lost its bid yesterday for reinstatement in 2010 World Cup qualifying after sport’s highest court refused to punish Qatar for using an ineligible player.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport agreed with governing body FIFA that Iraq had no right to make an appeal because it was late in paying a 3,000 Swiss francs ($$2,800) fee. The Iraqi Football Association (IFA) missed the deadline by 11 days.
“The IFA was fully aware of the conditions for filing an appeal with FIFA,” CAS said in a statement.
The dispute stemmed from a March 26 Asian qualifier between Qatar and Iraq in Doha.
Brazilian-born Emerson, 29, was a Qatar citizen when he helped his adopted country beat Iraq 2-0. But earlier in his career he had also played for Brazil’s under-20 team under the name of Marcio Passos de Albuquerque. FIFA lets players change nationality but not play for two countries. The breach of rules was brought to FIFA’s attention by football officials in China, which was due to play Qatar in a June 2 qualifier.
FIFA banned Emerson but cleared Qatar of any wrongdoing, despite article 55 of its disciplinary code stating that “if a player takes part in an official match despite being ineligible, his team will be sanctioned by forfeiting the match.”
Article 31 of the code states that a forfeit is considered a 3-0 defeat — a result which would have seen Iraq take Qatar’s place in the current qualifying stage. FIFA’s disciplinary committee said the code penalties should not apply because the Qatari federation was given false information. It rejected two Iraq attempts to appeal on technical grounds.
Qatar’s head of state, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, also intervened to protest his nation’s innocence.
The CAS ruling yesterday ends Iraq’s efforts to reach the 2010 tournament in South Africa, which had begun amid high hopes for the 2007 Asian champion.
Iraq completed its matches in the third stage of qualifying in June only after being suspended from the competition — and later reprieved — by FIFA because of government interference in the running of football affairs.
Qatar has already played two matches in the fourth qualifying stage and currently leads its five-team group following a 3-0 win over Uzbekistan and a 1-1 draw with Bahrain in Doha earlier this month.
The group also includes Australia, which hosts Qatar on Oct. 15, and Japan. The teams finishing first and second qualify direct to the finals.
Qatar has never reached a World Cup finals tournament. Iraq has appeared once, at the 1986 finals in Mexico.
