April 7 – FIFA’s ongoing spat with Kuwait, and by association the Asian football heirarchy, has deepened with the Kuwaitis being fined a symbolic SFr30,000 for failing to play two World Cup qualifying matches last month.
The Kuwait Football Association were suspended by FIFA in October because of government interference and were subsequently barred from voting in last month’s FIFA presidential election.
FIFA then officially cancelled a pair Kuwaiti Asian World Cup qualifying matches against Laos and South Korea, the inevitable result of the Gulf state’s ongoing suspension.
The ban effectively ended Kuwait’s qualifying chance when it still had three games left and now the federation has been fined too as well as receiving a reprimand for forfeiting the Laos and South Korea matches, a somewhat bizarre sanction since they weren’t allowed to play them under the FIFA-imposed ban.
South Korea were thus the only team from Group B to advance to the third qualifying round of the regional competition for the 2018 World Cup.
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