By David Gold
July 2 – FIFA has banned Equatorial Guinea’s women’s team from qualifying for the London 2012 women’s Olympic football tournament for fielding an ineligible player.
Forward Jade Boho Sayo was fielded by the Guineans against Cameroon despite being banned by FIFA for “the period of two months regarding eligibility matters”.
FIFA also says that she is banned from all domestic or international fixtures.
Guinea beat Cameroon 2-0 on aggregate in the second round of qualifying, but their opponents will now take their place in the final round of qualifying at the end of August, when they will play Nigeria.
FIFA’s Gordon Savic, the head of World Cup and Olympic Qualifiers, wrote to the Nigerian Football Federation and said: “Cameroon has been confirmed to take part in this final stage of the qualifiers, after the FIFA Judicial Bodies have declared the 2 matches lost by forfeit by Equatorial Guinea in the 2nd round, due to player’s ineligibility.”
Sayo was born in Valladolid and represented Spain at under-19 level.
She has also been removed from the Guinean squad for the current FIFA Women’s World Cup, but the country’s participation in that tournament is not in doubt.
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