ZURICH: FIFA has finally moved to punished the Kuwait FA after the failure of talks led by the International Olympic Committee to resolve the stand-off over a contentious new sports law writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Kuwait was suspended from world football last October after the introduction of the legislation last year which was viewed by FIFA and the IOC as breaching common statutes preventing direct political interference.

The national team’s World Cup qualifying matches against Laos and South Korea were subsequently called off and the KFA was barred from voting in the FIFA presidential election in February.

In the meantime the IOC sought to resolve the issue but compromise proposals apparently agreed with Kuwaiti negotiators were rejected by government Ministers in a row sparked initially by a row over presidential elections in the International Shooting Sports Federation.

With no prospect of a resolution in sight the FIFA disciplinary committee has decided that both of the matches should be forfeited, in accordance with art. 31 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code. The KFA has also been fined SFr15,000 for each of the unplayed matches as well as being issued with a warning and a reprimand.

South Korea were the only team from Group B to advance to Asia’s third qualifying round for the preliminary competition of the 2018 World Cup with Lebanon falling short of finishing as one of the four best runners-up.

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