FIFA’s disciplinary committee has barred Equatorial Guinea from participating in the 2019 Women’s World Cup scheduled for France.
The global football body also fined the African country 100,000 Swiss Francs.
A statement on FIFA’s website on Thursday said Equatorial Guinea was sanctioned after an investigation showed it fielded ineligible players during the preliminary competition of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament Rio 2016 and the use of forged and falsified documents by two of its players.
The statement also explained that the decision of the Committee was as a result of further investigations conducted after the initial sanctions imposed in April 2016 against Equatorial Guinea.
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FIFA said 10 Equatorial Guinea players, who all participated in the preliminary competition of the Olympic event, were not eligible to play for the team. The players are Ana dos Santos, Mirian da Paixao, Adriana Parente, Dulcia Davi, Bruna da Silva, Ana da Silva, Jumaria de Santana, Vania Martins, Carolina Pereira and Adriana Costa.
In addition, Muriel Abessolo and Francisca Asangono, who also took part in the preliminary competition of the Rio 2016 event, were found to have violated Article 61 paras 1 and 2 of the FDC (forgery and falsification) and each was sanctioned with a 10-match suspension.
This will be served in the next matches of any representative team for which they may be eligible in accordance with the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA statutes.
Equatorial Guinea will not also compete in the preliminary competition of the Women’s Olympic football event in Tokyo 2020.
