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NEW YORK, June 19 (Reuters) - Mexico have been given permission to replace the five players who were suspended from the CONCACAF Gold Cup for failing out-of-competition doping tests.

The Mexican Football Federation (Femexfut) has denied their players did anything wrong, saying they tested positive for a banned anabolic agent after eating contaminated meat, and asked that they be replaced for the rest of the tournament.

The CONCACAF Gold Cup Organising Committee announced on Sunday it had agreed, after consulting with the sport’s world governing body, that Mexico be allowed to replace the players while the case is continuing.

“Based on the specific facts of this case, and on FIFA’s advice on the matter, the situation at hand is a case of force majeure as contemplated in the competition regulations,” CONCACAF said in a statement.

“Therefore the Mexican national team shall be permitted to replace the five …. players with up to five other players for the remainder of the competition.’

Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, defenders Francisco Rodriguez and Edgar Duenas, and midfielders Sinha and Christian Bermudez all tested positive for clenbuterol and were suspended from the regional tournament.

Femexfut attributed the positive results to ingestion of clenbuterol in meat eaten by the players when on a training camp in Mexico to prepare for the Gold Cup and has conducted independent tests they hope will exonerate them.

Despite being five players down since the opening match of the tournament, Mexico remain undefeated and are safely through to the semi-finals, against Honduras, in Texas this week. (Reporting by Julian Linden; Editing by Peter Rutherford; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Labels: cleared, CONCACAF, Mexico, players, replace, Reuters, suspended

MIAMI, May 31 (Reuters) - Suspended CONCACAF president Jack Warner wrote to members of the Caribbean Football Union on Tuesday reminding them that they should vote for incumbent Sepp Blatter in FIFA’s presidential election.

Warner, who was provisionally suspended on Sunday pending an ethics committee investigation into allegations of bribery, asked Caribbean Football Union members not to protest against his suspension during the FIFA congress.

(Reporting by Simon Evans in London, editing by Ed Osmond; To comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: Blatter, Caribbean, Reuters, Should, suspended, Warner

JOHANNESBURG, March 18 (Reuters) - South African club Orlando Pirates have received a suspended fine after one of their fans threw porridge at a referee, the country’s Premier Soccer League said on Friday.

The Soweto club, among the front runners for the league title this season, were hit with a suspended 50,000 rand ($7,106) fine after pleading guilty to a charge of spectator misbehaviour and bringing the game into disrepute.

A supporter hurled a handful of stodgy porridge, which South Africans commonly eat with most meals, at the referee at the end of a comfortable away win for the Pirates in Durban in January.

In October last year, arch rivals Kaizer Chiefs were handed a suspended 500,000 rand ($71,060) fine after angry fans threw two plastic vuvuzelas and a cabbage on to the pitch during a cup tie to protest about refereeing decisions.

The throwing of missiles by frustrated fans was a major problem in South African soccer for some time but has almost disappeared in recent years.

(Reporting by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Martyn Herman) To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: after, attack, Pirates, porridge, Reuters, suspended, swallow

SOFIA, March 15 (Reuters) - Bulgarian referee Nikolay Yordanov has been banned for two months after making mistakes in the champions Litex Lovech’s 2-1 win at Pirin Blagoevgrad on Saturday.

Yordanov’s ban, imposed by the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) on Tuesday, came after a furious protest from Pirin over his failure to penalise Litex’s Brazilian winger Doka Madureira for a head-butt on Anton Kostadinov early in the second half.

Soon after the incident, Doka scored Litex’s equaliser and he also assisted Senegalese striker Pape Diouf’s winning goal five minutes from time.

“The punishment is rather symbolic,” Pirin’s chief executive Emil Nakov told local media. “They should ban such referees for life.”

Leaders Litex also complained, saying Yordanov failed to award what looked an obvious penalty during the hard-fought victory over relegation-threatened Pirin.

In 2008, Yordanov was suspended for four matches after making a series of blunders in a game that ended a 33-match unbeaten league run for then-champions CSKA Sofia.

Yordanov became Bulgaria’s second UEFA referee to be banned this season after Angel Angelov was suspended until the end of the season in November.

(Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; editing by Martyn Herman) To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com

Labels: Bulgarian, errors, Match, referee, Reuters, suspended, Yordanov

STOCKHOLM, March 18 (Reuters) - HJK Helsinki’s Zambian midfielder Dominic Yobe has been questioned by Finnish police in relation to match-fixing allegations and instructed not to leave the country, the club told Reuters on Friday.

A further six men have been remanded in custody in connection with the allegations, the Finnish National Prosecutor’s Office has said.

“He (Yobe) has been suspended from training and games temporarily and we are starting discussions with Dominic about the situation immediately,” club spokesman Felix Siivonen said by telephone from Helsinki.

“When we get more information from the police and from Dominic we will be making some decisions but it’s far too early to say just yet.”

The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into match-fixing in Finland following the apprehension of a Singaporean man at Vaanta Airport last month.

(Editing by Justin Palmer and Alan Baldwin;To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: betting, Helsinki, Midfielder, probe, Reuters, suspended