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Football

FIFA lift Cameroon points sanction


PARIS, France -- FIFA has pardoned Cameroon and lifted the six-point sanction imposed on their World Cup qualifying campaign after they wore a one-piece kit in the African Nations Cup.

A fine of 200,000 Swiss francs remains, although a lawyer representing Cameroon said they will fight against the penalty at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The decision to pardon Cameroon, who lost an appeal against the punishment this month, was taken at the FIFA centennial congress on Friday after the intervention of the Confederation of African Football Federation.

Cameroonians reacted jubilantly to the lifting of the penalty, which would seriously have hindered their chances of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

"I was very surprised that all 52 African countries wanted the sanction lifted but I was also pleased because it showed solidarity," FIFA president Sepp Blatter told a news conference.

"Even the countries in the same group as Cameroon wanted them to have the points back for them all to start level in the spirit of fair play."

Reinhard Stuenkel, one of two lawyers representing Cameroon, gave a different view. "It's my firm belief that FIFA was scared to death about the outcome at the court (of arbitration)," he said.

The team incurred FIFA's wrath after they ignored instructions to stop wearing the athletics-style kit during the tournament in January and February.

FIFA lists shirts and shorts as basic equipment in its regulations and believes this implies the items have to be separate. Officials had said they were showing leniency by only warning Cameroon after they wore the kit in the group phase.

But the team ignored the warning, wearing the outfit again for their quarter-final defeat by Nigeria.

Cameroon soccer officials said FIFA did not give them enough time to arrange an alternative kit but critics accused them of persevering with the strip to please their sponsors, Puma.

Stuenkel, who filed an appeal at the CAS on Friday morning, said FIFA rules also did not stipulate whether shorts-and-shirt combinations should be one-piece or separate. "It doesn't say, just as it doesn't say if a goalie can wear a cap," he said.

Cameroon are no strangers to kit controversy. They turned up for the 2002 African Nations Cup sporting sleeveless shirts which were subsequently banned by FIFA.


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