Carcela withdraws appeal over dual eligibility

PARIS — Standard Liege midfielder Mehdi Carcela has withdrawn his bid to defer a decision over which country he represents internationally, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) revealed on Friday.The 21-year-old, who holds Belgian, Spanish and Moroccan nationalities, wanted to be able to play for Belgium without jeopardising his chances of representing Morocco in the future.He has now decided to play for Morocco, the country of his mother."Mehdi Carcela today announced he is withdrawing his appeal to the CAS and has confirmed his wish to be able to play for the Moroccan national side," said the CAS.Carcela was born in Belgium to a Spanish father and Moroccan mother and had launched his case to play for the Moroccans having played at earlier age levels for Belgium.World football's ruling body FIFA had already acceded to an initial demand by the player to turn out for Morocco, but he had appealed to the CAS in the hope that he might later be able to choose Belgium before ultimately plumping for the north Africans.Earlier this week, Liege-born striker Nacer Chadli of Dutch side FC Twente chose Belgium over Morocco and promptly earned a call-up for next week's friendly against Finland.Chadli had previously featured in a friendly for Morocco against Northern Ireland last November but later met with Belgian football federation officials and then announced on his website he had chosen to play for the Red Devils. Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

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