Club ends court action over Chile sanction fears

Legal action brought by Chilean club Rangers to try to annul their relegation that could have left Chile suspended by FIFA and out of the World Cup was withdrawn yesterday.

The creditors of bankrupt Rangers, who are in administration, asked the club's administrator Cristian Herrera to withdraw the action.

"Following the arrival of the FIFA communique, the creditors called on me to withdraw the case filed in the courts of justice in order not to prejudice the club," Herrera told the Chilean CDF channel.

FIFA, which does not approve of civil or government intervention in football matters, had earlier given Chile 72 hours to resolve the matter.

"We beseech your association to call on your affiliated club to withdraw the case it took to the Chilean courts of justice within the next 72 hours or announce the pertinent sanctions against your affiliated club," a FIFA letter sent to Chile's Football Association (ANFP) said.

"If your association does not adopt the necessary measures as we have indicated, the case will be put to FIFA's executive committee in its session of Dec. 3, 2009 in Cape Town, so it considers imposing a suspension against (the ANFP)."

A court in the city of Talca, where Rangers are based, ordered the suspension of the promotion/relegation play-offs, prompting the ANFP to put this weekend's Clausura championship semi-finals on hold as well until the issue was resolved.

Rangers would have been in the play-offs had they not been automatically relegated after having three points docked for fielding too many foreign players in a match.

Semis back on

The semi-finals were put back on this weekend following a plea from the four teams involved, Colo Colo, Universidad Catolica, La Serena and Santiago Morning.

"What Rangers have done is prohibited in all the (football) associations in the world. FIFA could even disaffiliate Chile," an ANFP official said.

Such an outcome could have endangered Chile's participation in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, their first finals since 1998.