Zurich - West Ham United have been fined 100 000 Swiss franc by Fifa following a dispute with the Senegalese FA over Diafra Sakho who played in an FA Cup match having withdrawn from the squad for the African Nations Cup.
West Ham claimed Sakho, who was issued with a reprimand, could not play for Senegal due to a back injury but 18 days after withdrawing from the squad he scored the winner in their FA Cup fourth round win at Bristol City.
Soccer's world governing body announced the sanctions in a statement on Wednesday.
Fifa said that the player was called up by the Senegal FA on Dec. 18 to play in tournament between Jan. 17 and Feb. 8 as well attending their training camp from Jan 5-16 in Morocco.
“The Senegalese FA was informed by West Ham United that Sakho was prevented from playing and travelling by plane due to injury and thus he did not join the Senegal team,” Fifa said.
“On 25 January 2015, the player took part in an official match for his club. Senegal were eliminated from the Africa Cup of Nations 2015 on 27 January 2015.”
Fifa ruled that West Ham and Sakho violated their regulations on players' status and subsequently imposed the fine and the reprimand.
West Ham believed they would be vindicated in the dispute which began when the Premier League club said Sakho could not travel to the tournament in Equatorial Guinea due to the injury.
Senegal then made an official complaint to Fifa about him playing for the Hammers against Bristol City. Two days after he played for West Ham, Senegal lost to Algeria and were eliminated from the tournament.
The London club denied any wrongdoing with co-owner David Sullivan saying the club acted solely on the advice of leading medical professionals.
He said: “Any Fifa hearing will vindicate us, we have done nothing untoward.”
Sakho was left out of West Ham's squad for last weekend's Premier League match at Liverpool with manager Sam Allardyce explaining: “It is not conducive for us to be putting him on the field until it is resolved, sadly.”
Sakho has scored 10 goals in 16 appearances in all competitions for the Hammers after joining them from French club Metz last summer.
Reuters