CONCACAF rules French Guiana draw a forfeit, bans Malouda

CONCACAF came out with a strong response
early Friday morning to French Guiana’s
decision to break the rules and play Florent
Malouda Tuesday evening in the Gold Cup.
The CONCACAF disciplinary committee
announced that the match between French
Guiana and Honduras, which finished as a
scoreless draw on the night, would be
forfeited by French Guiana, awarding
Honduras a 3-0 result.
In addition, French Guiana was fined an
undisclosed amount and the 37-year-old
Malouda was assessed a two-match stadium
ban.
“As a consequence of fielding Florent
Malouda, who was confirmed by the
Disciplinary Committee to be ineligible to
play in the Gold Cup 2017 according to the
applicable regulations, the Disciplinary
Committee has levied sanctions and fines
against the French Guiana Football League
(LGF) and has suspended the player ruled
ineligible,” CONCACAF said in a statement.
Malouda of course earned 80 caps for the
French National Team during a long career
in Europe where he starred for Lyon and
Chelsea, but began playing for his native
French Guiana earlier this year, captaining
the side to third place at the Caribbean Cup,
which served as a qualifying tournament for
the Gold Cup.
For whatever reason, CONCACAF allowed
Malouda to compete for French Guiana in
that competition but has decided to honor
FIFA rules, which say a player cannot switch
international teams once they’ve played in
an official FIFA match, at the Gold Cup,
which ruled Malouda ineligible for the Gold
Cup. Normally FIFA rules don’t apply to
French Guiana because the nation, an
overseas department of France, is not a
member of FIFA.
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At the same time, Malouda was allowed to be
registered on the French Guiana roster,
placed on the starting lineup and take the
field, even though the game was almost
surely going to be forfeited.
The strange situation has perhaps met its
end, with French Guiana now with no chance
of advancing to the knockout round of the
Gold Cup with two losses through its first
two games against Canada and Honduras.
French Guiana wraps up the group stage
against Panama on Friday evening.