(Reuters) – The World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Argentina in September that was suspended after health officials ran onto the pitch will be replayed, world governing body FIFA said on Monday.
The match at the NeoQuimica Arena in Sao Paulo was halted in farcical fashion just five minutes after kick off when Brazilian health officials entered the pitch to stop Argentina’s England-based players from playing.
The officials claimed the Argentines had breached Brazil’s rules stating travellers who had been in the UK, South Africa or India during the previous two weeks were forbidden from entering the country unless they were Brazilian citizens or had permanent residency.
FIFA also banned Argentine players Emiliano Buendia, Emiliano Martinez, Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero for two matches. The health officials had alleged that the players had misled border officials by declaring they had not been in a red list country during the 14 days before the game.
“After a thorough investigation of the various factual elements and in light of the applicable regulations, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided that the match should be replayed on a date and at a location to be decided by FIFA,” it said in a statement.
“In addition, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has concluded that the abandonment of the match stemmed from several deficiencies of the parties involved.”
FIFA, based in Switzerland, fined the Brazilian and Argentine football associations 500,000 Swiss francs ($540,000) and 200,000 Swiss francs, respectively, for their failure to ensure “order and safety”.
($1 = 0.9265 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Andrew Downie and Dhruv Munjal; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
