A UAE national football team official has been banned for 16 games after clashes at last month's World Cup qualifier against Qatar.
The world football governing body Fifa announced the ban by its disciplinary committee on its website. The ruling followed crowd trouble after the match between the UAE and Qatar, in Doha, on October 14.
The game was won 2-1 by the hosts, which meant Qatar qualified for a second successive World Cup. The match was interrupted by violent scenes as Qatari players celebrated their goals in front of the travelling UAE supporters.
Matar Al Dhaheri was suspended for 16 games and fined 10,000 Swiss francs (Dh45,500) for “misconduct of players and officials, unsporting behaviour towards an opponent or a person other than a match official, assault on a match official”, said Fifa's disciplinary committee.
Mr Al Dhaheri was not the only person fined and suspended by the committee. Qatar's Tarek Salman was given a two-match ban and a fine of 5,000 Swiss francs (Dh27,750).
