CAS dismisses UAE appeal against Qatar's AFC Asian Cup win

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Bengaluru, August 4: The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has dismissed the United Arab Emirates' charge that FIFA 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar used an ineligible player during their 4-0 win at the 2019 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup semifinal held at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE protested after its loss that Qatar star forward Almoez Ali and defender Bassam Al Rawi were ineligible alleging their mothers were not born in Qatar.

But the AFC then its appeal committee, disagreed.

The UAE federation then took its case to the sports's highest authority court which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. However, it had dropped its challenge against Al Rawi as he was suspended during the semifinals.

The CAS' decision following a hearing last March confirmed the first appeal decision.

CAS noted Almoez's mother was born in Qatar, had dual citizenship for Qatar and Sudan, and was comfortably satisfied. Almoez was a Qatari and eligible for the national team.

The match held on January 29, 2019, will be remembered for all wrong reasons as the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee sanctioned the United Arab Emirates Football Association with a fine of $150,000 and was ordered to play one match behind closed doors.

In a match held amidst high political tensions, the visitors were booed by a partisan crowd right from the moment the Qatar national anthem was played. It did not end there. Sandals and water bottles were thrown at them whenever Qatar scored and choicest of abuses were hurled by local crowd during the course of the match.

Almoez, who equalled Iranian striker Ali Daei's long-standing record for most goals in an AFC Asian Cup, was pelted with slippers as he celebrated his team's second goal.

A number of bottles were also thrown at Qatar's last two scorers - captain Hassan Al Haydos and Hamid Ismail -- as they celebrated their maiden march into the final of the tournament, which they went on to win after beating Japan 3-1.

The crowd trouble was attributed to the fallout of the blockade (which has been there since June, 2017) imposed by Gulf countries against Qatar .