Messi wins FIFA appeal, remaining 3 matches of ban lifted

ZURICH — Argentina captain Lionel Messi was cleared by FIFA on Friday to play in the next three World Cup qualifiers after a ban for insulting a referee’s assistant was lifted.

Messi already served one match of the four-match ban that was imposed when the FIFA disciplinary committee gave its ruling hours before Argentina’s 2-0 loss in Bolivia in March.

“We are very happy that FIFA once again has credibility at AFA and that we can count on Leo Messi,” Claudio Tapia, the head of the Argentine Football Association, wrote on his Instagram account.

FIFA said its appeal committee considered Messi’s behaviour “reproachable” for verbally abusing a linesman late in a 1-0 win over Chile on March 23. But the panel concluded the “evidence available was not sufficient to establish to the appropriate standard” required for the disciplinary committee to impose the initial suspension.