Eq. Guinea women's team banned from World Cup for fielding Brazilian players

Equatorial Guinea’s women national team has been banned by the world football’s governing body from participating in the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France for fielding 10 Brazilian-born players.

Two players were also found guilty of using forged and falsified documents, FIFA announced on Thursday saying the decision followed investigations conducted after initial sanctions last year.

The violations, which also attracted a fine of $102,000, were perpetrated during the qualification competition for the Rio 2016 Olympic women’s tournament.

Muriel Linda Mendoua Abessolo and Francisca Angue Ondo Asangono, the two players found guilty of using forged and falsified documents have also been served a ten-match ban.

In April 2016, FIFA banned Equatorial Guinea from participating in the 2020 Olympics qualification tournament for fielding Camila Maria do Carmo Nobre de Oliveira who was found to have used two passports with different birth dates and two birth certificates.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) also banned the team from three Africa Women Cup of Nations for the same offence which resulted in their disqualification from the 2016 Nations Cup finals in Cameroon. The CAF ban was lifted in July.

The Equatorial Guinea’s women national team is two-time African champions.