FIFA rejected Leicester City's application to register midfielder Adrien Silva "after the club missed the deadline by 14 seconds," according to Steve Crossman of the BBC. The club agreed to sign the midfielder from Portuguese side Sporting for £22M ($28.7M) near the close of the summer transfer window on Aug. 31. Silva's registration was "not completed in time," meaning the deal was not finalized. Leicester is "in the process of trying to appeal" the decision. The FA has been in touch with FIFA and "will look to help Leicester with its case" (
BBC, 9/6). In London, Stuart James reported Leicester "hoped that the deal would still be ratified" -- the club announced Silva’s signing subject to int'l clearance on Sept. 1 -- but it emerged on Wednesday that the transfer had not been approved by FIFA, "raising questions about the player’s short-term future and whether he would have to wait until January to represent the Midlands club." It has "turned into a messy, complex situation" in which Leicester is "refusing to concede defeat" but the club knows it "must handle sensitively and carefully," especially as there is a player caught in the middle "who is powerless to do anything." As things stand, there is an argument that Silva "is not technically a Leicester player -- although Sporting may argue otherwise" (
GUARDIAN, 9/6).
SEEDED PLAYOFFS: REUTERS' Brian Homewood reported FIFA confirmed that teams "will be seeded" when the organization makes the draw for the playoff round in the European World Cup qualifiers, "avoiding a potential clash between Portugal and Italy." The winners of the nine European groups go directly to Russia next year, "while the best eight of the nine runners-up play off over two legs for a further four spots." FIFA said that the top four teams according to the FIFA rankings "would go into one pot" for the draw on Oct. 17 while the remaining four will be in another (REUTERS, 9/6).
