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Zurich, March 12 (IANS) Zimbabwe have been booted out of the 2018 football World Cup qualifiers for failing to pay their national team coach, FIFA announced here on Thursday.
FIFA's disciplinary committee said it took the action "as a result of the non-payment of an outstanding debt" by Zimbabwe's football federation to coach Jose Claudinei Georgini despite a grace period, reports Xinhua.
The expulsion means Zimbabwe will be excluded from the preliminary qualifying competition for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Proceedings were opened against the ZIFA (Zimbabwe Football Association) on the request of the coach, as they had not paid their debts despite having been given grace periods earlier (60 days to settle half of the debt + 120 days for the remaining following an initial ruling in April 2013).
They were also then given a final extension of 60 days to pay their debt and were informed that apart from a fine, failure to pay the debt will see them expelled from the qualification stages of the 2018 World Cup. Both those decisions were not appealed by the ZIFA.
