{"id":166561,"date":"2025-09-19T00:49:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T00:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/166561\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T00:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T00:49:08","slug":"fifa-opens-case-against-south-africa-after-fielding-suspended-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/166561\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA opens case against South Africa after fielding suspended player"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanaweb.com\/GhanaHomePage\/SportsArchive\/FIFA-opens-case-against-South-Africa-after-fielding-suspended-player-Reports-2001324?gallery=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/44811546.295.jpg\" alt=\"Teboho Mokoena is under investigation by FIFA, according to reports\" title=\"Teboho Mokoena is under investigation by FIFA, according to reports\" width=\"295\" height=\"165\" \/> <\/a>Teboho Mokoena is under investigation by FIFA, according to reports<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-123\">According to multiple reports, FIFA has officially launched disciplinary proceedings against the South African Football Association (SAFA) and midfielder Teboho Mokoena over his participation in a 2026 World Cup qualifier despite being suspended. <\/p>\n<p>The match in question was South Africa\u2019s 2-0 win over Lesotho on March 21, 2025, during which Mokoena played despite having accumulated enough yellow cards to trigger a one-game ban. <\/p>\n<p>The case has now been referred to FIFA\u2019s Disciplinary Committee. SAFA and Mokoena have been given six days to respond to the allegations, with a deadline set for September 20, 2025. <\/p>\n<p>Lesotho had lodged a protest after the match but did so outside the official deadline window for appeals, complicating their ability to demand corrective action. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanaweb.com\/GhanaHomePage\/SportsArchive\/South-Africa-dent-Nigeria-s-World-Cup-dream-1999946\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">South Africa dent Nigeria&#8217;s World Cup dream<\/a><\/p>\n<p>If FIFA finds that the rules were breached, several sanctions could be enforced. These include a possible forfeiture of the match, resulting in a 3-0 win awarded to Lesotho, fines, and suspensions for the player or association.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa currently tops Group C in the qualification campaign with 17 points. A three-point deduction would bring them level with Benin, and intensify the race for the top spot. <\/p>\n<p>SAFA has, however, not yet issued an official comment on the matter. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>FKA\/AE<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, watch fans pick their ultimate Ghanaian UCL legend<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Teboho Mokoena is under investigation by FIFA, according to reports According to multiple reports, FIFA has officially launched&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-166561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}