FIFA uphold Fernando Santos ban

New Portugal coach Fernando Santos has seen his appeal over an eight-match ban for misconduct at the World Cup rejected by FIFA.

Football’s governing body confirmed that its Appeals Committee upheld the original ruling for the former Greece boss.

The 59-year-old was hit with the hefty punishment after he angrily confronted Australian referee Ben Williams at the end of extra time of Greece’s last-16 penalty-shootout defeat to Costa Rica, and he subsequently resigned his post after their elimination.

Despite the ban, Santos, who has managed all of Portugal’s three major sides in Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and Porto, was still chosen to replace Paulo Bento as Portugal coach earlier this week.

Santos will serve his suspension during qualifying for Euro 2016, although he could yet take his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

A statement read: “The FIFA appeal committee has decided to reject the appeal lodged by the official Fernando Manuel Fernandes Da Costa Santos and to confirm in its entirety the decision rendered by the FIFA disciplinary committee.

“The decision of the FIFA appeal committee was notified to the relevant parties on September 24.

“In accordance with with art. 67 par. 1 of the FIFA Statutes, this decision may be appealed against before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). “