Equatorial Guinea forward and AFCON Golden Boot winner Emilio Nsue has been hit with a six-month football ban by football governing body, FIFA.
The FIFA ruling comes after an investigation found that the Equatorial Guinea captain was not eligible to play for the country over the last eleven years.
He earlier represented Spain at youth level in an official tournament.
According to The Guardian, FIFA had ruled Nsue ineligible to play for the West African country in 2013 and the two matches he had played for them in their 2014 World Cup qualifiers had been handed to their opponents.
Equatorial Guinea requested to have Nsue released from the Spanish FA but had never requested the same from FIFA, and continued on with their inclusion of the forward-cum-defender in their side.
FIFA stated that their investigation into Nsue’s eligibility started in March 2023, and the Equatorial Guinea forward failed to respond to their claims within the provided six-day period.
The investigation has now found him guilty and he has been handed a six-month football ban along with a fine of 150,000 Swiss francs (£131,000).
Get instant and latest news updates via Our WhatsApp Community or Google News online channel.