THE Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, has ruled in favour of FIFA and the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) in the dispute with the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), putting to rest the near eight-month-old matter.On Thursday, January 14, a copy of the judgement, handed down by sole Arbitrator, Professor Luigi Fumagalli, Attorney-at-Law of Milan, Italy, was delivered by courier to the office of the SVGFF in Kingstown.
Guyana had lodged a complaint with FIFA in June last year, claiming that the SVGFF had used an ineligible player, Gavin James, when the two teams met in a Russia 2018 World Cup Qualifier at the Guyana National Stadium on June 14, 2015.
The GFF filed the complaint to FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee on June 16 and was informed on July 29 by the Disciplinary Committee that, “after careful examination of all the requested information and documentation, it was considered that no further intervention was necessary in such context,” according to reports.
The GFF then followed up with an appeal to FIFA’s Appeals Committee, but was once again notified that it was not a party to the relevant proceedings, and would therefore, not be eligible to appeal.
FIFA further added that an appeal was lodged against a letter issued on July 29 by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and not against a decision of the Committee.
The GFF then, in September last year, took its case against FIFA and the SVGFF to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which sits in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The GFF was contending that James was not the holder of a St Vincent and the Grenadines Passport at the time the game was played, as was required by Article 19(3) of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Regulations.
Reports say that at the time of the game, James was the holder of a United Kingdom Passport. He had a stamp inserted in the passport indicating he was a citizen of St Vincent and the Grenadines by descent.
This, according to the GFF, is a violation of the said Article 19(3), which recognises a passport as the only form of valid proof.
FIFA’s Disciplinary Code Article 55 (1) states: “If a player takes part in an official match despite being ineligible, his team will be sanctioned by forfeiting the match and paying a minimum fine of CHF 6 000.”
After assessing the matter and looking at all the evidence, Professor Fumagalli found the case put forward by the GFF to be flawed in a number of ways.
In his (Professor Fumagalli) conclusion to the matter his ruling is that: (1) The Appeal filed on September 3 2015 by the Guyana Football Federation is not admissible; (2) The cost of the arbitration, to be determined and served to the parties by the CAS Court office, shall be borne in their entirety by the Guyana Football Federation; (3) Each party shall bear its own costs and expenses incurred in connection with this arbitration; (4) All other motions and prayers for relief are dismissed.