Cape Verde has been disqualified from the African play-offs by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil for fielding an ineligible player in last Saturday’s group qualifier against Tunisia.

The Blue Sharks had caused a major upset by beating Tunisia by 2-0 in Rades, Tunisia, on Saturday to edge ahead of Tunisia, who had only needed a draw to advance but FIFA ruled that Fernando Verela should not have played in that particular march on September 7 and overturned the results by awarding Tunisia with 3-0 victory.

A statement from FIFA said: “Cape Verde failed to serve a four-match suspension imposed on him after receiving a red card for unsporting conduct towards a match official during a World Cup qualifier on 24 March”.

The decision means Tunisia finish top of Group B with 14 points, with Cape Verde second on nine points and Tunisians will now be in the draw on 16 September instead of Cape Verde for the final play off to determine the five countries from Africa who will participate in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

In addition to this massive blow to the Blue Sharks, their Football Association has also been fined $6,400 by FIFA for failing to uphold the rules of the game.

Football analysts on the African continent say Cape Verde; with a population of just about 505,000 would have been the smallest ever African nation to play at the World Cup if they had qualified.

Cape Verde did very well in last year’s African Cup of Nations by reaching the last 8 but was beaten by Ghana in the quarter finals stage.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa Sports

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