Two appeals filed by the Bolivia Football Federation

Press Release

2 March 2017

The Bolivia Football Federation (BFF) has filed two appeals at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against decisions issued by the FIFA Appeal Committee dated 12 January 2017 concerning the eligibility of the player Nelson Cabrera who participated for Bolivia in two FIFA 2018 World Cup qualification matches in September 2016.

In a decision dated 27 October 2016, the FIFA Disciplinary Chamber found that the BFF had breached the FIFA rules regarding nationality in fielding Nelson Cabrera who did not meet the eligibility criteria to play for the national team of Bolivia. As a consequence, FIFA ordered that the matches played between Bolivia and Peru (2-0) on 1 September 2016 and between Chile and Bolivia (0-0) on 6 September 2016 be forfeited.

In appealing to CAS, the BFF seeks to have the decisions issued by the FIFA Disciplinary Chamber and FIFA Appeal Committee overturned in order to recover the FIFA 2018 World Cup qualification points it has lost.

A CAS arbitration procedure is in progress. First, the parties will exchange written submissions and a Panel of three arbitrators will be constituted. The Panel will then issue directions with respect to the holding of a hearing. Following the hearing, the Panel will deliberate and at a later date, it will issue a decision in the form of an Arbitral Award.

Thursday, 02 March 2017