Four Argentina players who are tied to Premier League clubs have been suspended by FIFA after last September's abandoned World Cup qualifier against Brazil.
The match in Sao Paulo kicked off only to be halted by medical officials minutes into the match, with Covid-19 restrictions at the time being cited.
The Aston Villa pair of Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia, as well as Tottenham's Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso - who joined Villarreal on loan in January - were accused by the Brazilian government of providing false information in relation to their immigration forms and Covid-19 declarations.
At the time travel between Brazil and England was banned, with Brazilian authorities insisting that the four players should not have been involved with the Argentina squad for the match.
FIFA launched disciplinary proceedings into the matter shortly after the match in September, and have now banned all four players from playing in two matches each “for not complying with the FIFA Return to Football International Match Protocol”.
Argentina have also been fined £200,000, and Brazil £440,000.
The match will also now be replayed at a venue still to be determined, even though both nations have already qualified for the Qatar World Cup later this year.
Argentina’s players walked off the pitch in Sao Paulo after the Brazilian health authority officials came on to it.
The four Argentina players were alleged to have declared false information on official forms to the country’s authorities and in doing so broke Covid-19 quarantine rules.
Romero and Lo Celso started the match, along with Villa goalkeeper Martinez, but Buendia was not in the matchday 23.
Romero and Lo Celso were understood to have travelled to South America for international duty against Spurs’ wishes.
Premier League clubs had made a collective decision not to release players during last September’s international window if it meant them travelling to red-list countries as they would face 10 days of quarantine on their return.
