Palestine’s soccer federation has formally requested that FIFA investigate the eligibility of seven Brazilian-born players fielded by East Timor in their World Cup qualifying match last week.
The teams played a 1-1 tie in the Timorese capital, Dili, last Thursday, with one of East Timor’s seven naturalized Brazilians scoring the home team’s goal. The result hurt Palestine’s chances of advancing to the final round of Asian qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
In a letter addressed to FIFA’s acting general secretary, Markus Kattner, the Palestinian Football Associated claims East Timor fielded seven players who did not comply with FIFA citizenship regulations.