Togo admit to using ineligible player

Togo's football federation has admitted fielding an ineligible player in a World Cup qualifier and are to be punished by FIFA.

Federation member Toussa Komi Gabriel told BBC Sport last Tuesday that Alaixys Romao should not have played in their 2-0 win over Cameroon in Lome on June 9.

"It's true that the Togolese team didn't find out if the player was qualified (to play) before using him," said Komi.

Komi's admission came hours after Ethiopia had confessed to using an ineligible player in their World Cup qualifier against Botswana on June 8.

If Togo's points are redistributed to Cameroun, it will hand the Indomitable Lions a massive World Cup lifeline.

Cameroun currently trail Group I leaders Libya by two points but would move a point clear in the table with one game remaining.

World Cup rules dictate that once a player has received two cautions in the qualifying campaign, he has an automatic one-match ban.

The 2014 World Cup qualifiers have seen a number of disciplinary cases on the use of ineligible players.

Burkina Faso and Gabon lost points for fielding Cameroun-born players who were ineligible to play for their national teams while Sudan lost three points for using a suspended player.

There is also a case pending against Equatorial Guinea for using imported players from Brazil and Colombia in their recent World Cup qualifiers. — BBC