November 27 – Chilean club Rangers has dropped a court case that threatened the national team’s participation at next year’s World Cup.
FIFA had warned it could kick Chile out of the World Cup unless Rangers withdrew the court case, which contested the club’s demotion to the second division of the national league.
The former Primera Division club had appealed to the Chilean courts of justice after being deducted three points for fielding an ineligible player, a punishment which led to their relegation from the top flight.
FIFA’s statutes prevent civil or political intervention in football matters, and the governing body gave Chile’s National Association of Professional Football 72 hours to intervene in the Rangers case in a letter sent to Chilean Football Federation president Harold Mayne-Nicholls yesterday.
“Please urge your association-affiliated club, Rangers, to withdraw the appeal before the ordinary courts of Chile within the next 72 hours, or otherwise… decide appropriate sanctions… in accordance with Article 64, sec. 3 of the FIFA statutes,” the letter, signed by FIFA deputy secretary general Markus Kattner, stated.
“If your association does not take the necessary steps as we have indicated, the matter may be submitted to the FIFA Executive Committee at its meeting on 3 December 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa, so that this body consider imposing suspension against the Football Federation of Chile.”
The creditors of bankrupt Rangers, who are in administration, asked the club’s administrator Cristian Herrera to withdraw the action.
“Following the arrival of the FIFA communique, the creditors … called on me to withdraw the case filed in the courts of justice in order not to prejudice the club,” Herrera said.
The move clears the way for Chile to play in the World Cup, its first appearance since 1998.