The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has cleared Qatar of blame for fielding an ineligible player in a World Cup qualifier in March and dismissed Iraq’s appeal against an earlier FIFA decision.

Qatar’s Emerson took the pitch against Iraq on March 26 in a game that Qatar won 2-0. As the naturalized player had appeared for Brazil at a youth level, by FIFA's rules, he was ineligible.

The three points enabled Qatar to progress to the final round of World Cup qualification ahead of Iraq.

FIFA cleared Qatar of any wrongdoing in June and CAS have now supported that decision saying that Iraq submitted documents and the appeal fees too late – 11 days after the deadline.

“The appeal filed by the IFA (Iraq Football Association) is dismissed and the result of the match Qatar-Iraq of 26 March 2008 .. Rest of the entry here