January 14 – Kuwait have been fined SFr10,000 (£7,000) by FIFA and ordered to forfeit November’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against Myanmar in a controversial case of world football’s governing body digging the knife in while a country is already down.
FIFA suspended Kuwait from international activity in October because government interference in sport meaning that even if it wanted to, the Gulf state couldn’t play matches – including against Myanmar on November 17 in what would have been their sixth fixture in Asian qualifying Group G fixture.
Kuwait, also suspended by the International Olympic committee, are currently second in the group on 10 points, level with Lebanon and eight behind leaders South Korea. Kuwait’s sports authority has filed a civil lawsuit against the country’s national Olympic committee.
Even though the FIFA ban prevents Kuwait from any activity, being ordered to forfeit the game is as if they are being held solely responsible for not playing it – something of a double whammy.
However a FIFA statement insisted that “the decision was reached after a thorough analysis of all relevant information pertaining to the case.”
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