THE EQUATORIAL GUINEA women’s team have been thrown out of the 2019 World Cup qualifiers after fielding a team of ineligible players.
Fifa revealed in a statement released today that the west African nation’s football association, which was found guilty of using forged documents for two of its players, has also been fined 100,000 Swiss francs (€87,269.42).
The sanctions come as the result of an investigation by the Fifa Disciplinary Committee and relates to the preliminary rounds of the women’s tournament at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
In April of last year, it found that Camila Maria do Carmo Nobre de Oliveira had used two passports with two different dates of birth while representing Equatorial Guinea, and the team was banned from qualifying for the 2020 Olympics.
Now it has emerged that 10 more Brazilian-born players have lined out for Equatorial Guinea illegally. They are:
- Ana Lucia Nascimiento dos Santos
- Mirian Silva da Paixao
- Adriana Soares Parente
- Dulcia Maria Davi
- Bruna Amarante da Silva
- Ana Cristina da Silva
- Jumaria Barbosa de Santana
- Vania Cristina Martins
- Carolina Conceicao Martins Pereira
- Adriana Aparecida Costa
In addition, Cameroonian-born Muriel Linda Mendoua Abessolo and Nigerian Francisca Angue Ondo Asangono were deemed to have violated forgery and falsification rules in order to play for Equatorial Guinea.
The pair have each been handed 10-match suspensions, to be served in the next matches of any team for which they are eligible to play for.
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