LAUSANNE, Switzerland, CMC- The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled in favour of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) in a dispute with the Guyana Football Federation (GFF).
A judgment handed down by sole Arbitrator, professor and lawyer Luigi Fumagalli of Milan, Italy, was delivered to the SVGFF last week, outlining the substance of the ruling.
GFF lodged a complaint with FIFA last year claiming that the SVGFF had used an ineligible player, Gavin James, when the two teams met in a Russia 2018 World Cup Qualifier in Guyana on June 14.
GFF’s complaint was rejected by FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee as well as its Appeals Committee.
The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) then took its case against FIFA and the SVGFF to the CAS on the eligibility of UK–based James.
The GFF was contending that James was not the holder of a St. Vincent and the Grenadines passport at the time the game was played as was required by Article 19(3) of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Regulations.
Reports say that at the time of the game, James was the holder of a United Kingdom Passport with a stamp inserted indicating he was a citizen of SVG by descent.
Reports say that after assessing the matter and looking at all the evidence, P Fumagalli found the case put forward by the GFF to be flawed in a number of ways.
