ZURICH — Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey has been banned for life for match manipulation in a World Cup qualifier, soccer's governing body FIFA said Monday.
FIFA said Lamptey was found guilty of unlawfully influencing a match result following South Africa's 2-1 win over Senegal in November in African Group D.
FIFA did not give further details but African soccer's governing body (CAF) said at the time that Lamptey had wrongly awarded a penalty to the South Africans and suspended him for three months.
CAF said that Lamptey was guilty of "poor performance" in the match and "awarded a wrong penalty for handball despite the fact that the ball never touched the hand of the player".
Thulani Hlatshwayo converted the penalty in the 42nd minute and Thulani Serero added another goal three minutes later.
Lamptey previously served a six-month ban, imposed by CAF, for wrongly awarding a goal during a CAF Champions League semi-final in 2010.
South Africa's win left them level with Burkina Faso on four points from two games in the group with Senegal on three and Cape Verde on none.
FIFA did not say whether the result would stand or whether it would order a replay. "Further information concerning the South Africa v. Senegal match in question will be provided once the decision becomes final and binding," it said.
Neuer opts out from German squad with calf injury
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has pulled out of Germany's national soccer squad for their upcoming friendly against England and World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan because of a calf injury.
Uncapped Paris St Germain keeper Kevin Trapp has been called up to replace Neuer, who will stay with his club Bayern Munich for treatment, the German Football Association said on Monday.
Neuer, 30, has kept 13 clean sheets in 25 games for Bayern this season and played in the German champions' 1-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday. Trapp has made 11 appearances at the under-21 level for Germany and kept 10 clean sheets in his last 16 games for PSG.
Germany play England in Dortmund on Wednesday before travelling to Baku to face Azerbaijan four days later.
Sagna out of France's World Cup qualifier in Luxembourg
Manchester City defender Bacary Sagna has been ruled out of France's World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg because of left thigh injury. The French Soccer Federation said Sagna, who had joined his teammates at France's training camp outside Paris, will be replaced by Lyon right back Christophe Jallet.
France will also be without Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba for its trip to Luxembourg on March 25 in Group A, which the French lead by three points. France hosts Spain in a friendly international at the Stade de France three days later.
Jallet has made 11 appearances with France but has not played with the national since a friendly against the Netherlands in March 2016.
