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4th June 2024
03:33pm BST
The 2024 Africa Cup of Nations Golden Boot winner Emiliano Nsue has been banned from international football by FIFA after they ruled that he had never been eligible to play for his country.
Nsue has featured for Equatorial Guinea over an 11-year period but they were stripped of their two 2026 World Cup qualifier wins against Namibia and Liberia, in which Nsue scored in both of the 1-0 victories.
A detailed report from FIFA revealed that the former Middlesbrough and Birmingham City man shouldn't have played in either game and has now been banned from international football for six months.
It's a similar to a tale that also involved Nsue back in 2013. Equatorial Guinea were ordered to default two qualifying games for the 2014 World Cup as 3-0 losses because the 34-year-old was ineligible.
FIFA claim that the reason behind the disciplinary action is because Nsue had played competitive games for Spain's age-group teams before switching allegiance.
He's featured in more than 40 national-team games and scored 23 goals, including five in January at the most recent AFCON. The world governing body contacted Nsue back in March and gave him six days to respond to the charge, in which he didn't.
Nsue and his national federation can appeal against the sanctions, first to FIFA and later the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
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