By Ian Palmer
English Premier League club West Ham United was breathing easier on February 5 when it found out it wasn’t going to be thrown out of the 2014/15 FA Cup tournament. The London club got into trouble with the English FA (Football Association) and FIFA recently by playing Senegalese international striker Diafra Sakho in a Cup game. Sakho was called up to Senegal’s national team for the current Africa Cup of Nations event, but pulled out of the squad after claiming he was suffering from a back injury. However, he then played for West Ham and scored the lone goal of the match in a 1-0 FA Cup win over Bristol City.
By allowing Sakho to play, West Ham broke FIFA rules as the London team didn’t have an agreement in place with Senegal which would allow him to suit up. Basically, if a player pulls out of his national team citing an injury he isn’t allowed to play for anybody else while the national squad is in action. Senegal points out that Sakho obviously wasn’t injured if he was able to play for West Ham while the African Cup of Nations was still going on.
FIFA takes this rule seriously and released a statement which said, “We can confirm that disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the player Diafra Sakho and the club West Ham United for a potential violation of the FIFA regulations on the status and transfer of players.” In the meantime, West Ham replied with its own statement by announcing, the club “vigorously denies that they have acted in breach of FIFA regulations.” The club also claimed the investigation was unfounded at requested it to be called off.
However, this was an easy case for FIFA as it was clear that West Ham breached the rules and the world’s governing body of soccer rightfully found the Premier League side to be guilty. The team could have been punished by being thrown out of the FA Cup by the English association, but instead West Ham got lucky and was handed a 71,000 fine (approximately $100,000). As for Senegal, the team was knocked out of the African Cup of Nations tournament in the group stage and the team’s manager and fans weren’t too happy with both West Ham and Sakho. Manager Alain Giresse said West Ham “set a dangerous precedent,” with their action.
After Senegal fans turned on Sakho following his appearance for West Ham, the player remarked that he was angered and saddened by the criticism aimed at him. However, he should have expected it after his unprofessional behavior. West Ham can consider themselves lucky to still be in the FA Cup since many of the nation’s biggest teams have already been knocked out of the competition, including Chelsea, Manchester City, Southampton, and Tottenham.
With some of the big teams gone, eighth-place West Ham could now take advantage of the luck of the draw. They face fellow Premier League side, 15th-place, West Brom in Birmingham in the fifth round and bet365 lists them at 10/1 to win the tournament.
