by Mark Bassey

West Ham will continue to feature in the FA Cup, but will pay a £70,000 fine, for playing Diafra Sakho against Bristol City.

The London club had said the Senegal international, was not fit enough to represent his country at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

However, the striker scored the winning goal at Bristol City on January – two days before his country was eliminated in Equatorial Guinea.

FIFA have chose to only impose a fine, as well as reprimand Sakho himself.

“The Fifa Disciplinary Committee has found the club and the player to have violated art. 5 of Annexe 1 of the Regulations in relation to the match played by Sakho on 25 January 2015,” read a statement on Fifa’s website .

“The club has been fined CHF 100,000 in accordance with art. 10 c) and art. 15 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) and issued with a reprimand, while the player has been sanctioned with a reprimand in accordance with art. 10 b) and art. 14 of the FDC.”

ifreke

Ifreke Inyang is a public commentator and social media critic who has worked with a number of high profile publications across the country.