Kondogbia out of Copa tie due to ban dating from 2012-13
The France international was sent off in the semifinals playing for Sevilla and should have served ban at Monaco but RFEF failed to send paperwork to Ligue 1.
Valencia coach Marcelino will not be able to call on midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia for the Copa del Rey tie against Real Zaragoza after it was discovered the French midfielder is yet to serve a ban dating from the 2012-13 competition, when he was at Sevilla. Kondogbia earned a straight red card in the semifinals against Atlético and was handed a subsequent two-match ban that he should have served the following season after transferring to Monaco.
However, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) failed to notify its French counterpart of Kondogbia’s suspension. “Given that in the 2013-14 season the RFEF failed to send the requisite paperwork to the France Football Federation, as is required by FIFA regulations, the two-game ban given to Geffrey Kondogbia was not fulfilled at AS Monaco as it should have been and therefore remains in force,” Valencia said in a statement.
Kondogbia may well have been rested for the opening leg in La Romareda in any case but in the event that Valencia require a result at Mestalla in the return the on-loan Inter Milan midfielder would have been a useful addition to the squad.
Real Madrid's Cheryshev case
Marcelino will be at least be grateful that Valencia did their homework before the tie. In a now-infamous clerical error in 2015-16, Real Madrid fielded Denis Cheryshev in the opening game of their Copa game in Cádiz, unaware that the midfielder had been shown three yellow cards in the competition while at Villarreal the season before and was therefore due to serve a one-match suspension. Madrid appealed to the courts on the basis that the RFEF should have notified the club of Cheryshev’s ban but without success, with the courts noting that it was "incomprehensible that a club like Real Madrid is not aware of which players it can and cannot field".
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