Adnan Hamad has quit his role as Iraq national coach after his fifth stint in the job [EPA]

Iraq, who were eliminated from the competition on Sunday after being beaten 1-0 by Qatar in Dubai, claimed the participation of Brazilian-born striker Emerson in Qatar's qualifying campaign was illegal.

However Fifa, who have since banned Emerson, said Iraq's complaint was filed too late and ruled that Qatar could keep their place in the final round, according to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Iraq said Emerson, also known as Marcio Passos De Albuquerque, had represented Brazil at youth level and was therefore ineligible to pay for Qatar.

The former Sao Paulo striker was also reported to have been detained by Brazilian police in 2006 for falsifying his age on his birth certificate.

In comments posted on the AFC website Fifa gave few details, saying only: "The player is not eligible to play for Qatar and cannot play any further matches for the representative team of Qatar."

Qatar field several other naturalised players in their natonal team including central defender Marcone Junior and midfielder Fabio Montesin who are both Brazilian born, and star striker Sebastian Soria who is originally from Uruguay.

Hamad quits Iraq

Meanwhile in further bad news for Iraq, Adnan Hamad, national team coach, has parted company with the Asian champions just days after the side were knocked out of 2010 World Cup contention.

Hamad, 47, opted not to sign a new contract after Iraq's 1-0 defeat by Qatar at the weekend, saying on Wednesday that political squabbles and poor organisation made it impossible for him to do his job.

"There are many problems... it started with a ban from Fifa and we will continue to have these problems in the future," Hamad told Reuters by phone from his home in Jordan.

"It's always a difficult situation in Iraq, we have many, many troubles. I decided I did not want to continue."

Iraq were bottom of qualifying Group 1 when Hamad took over in February from Norwegian Egil Olsen, who was sacked after only three games for refusing to coach the team in violence-torn Iraq, where only a few of the players are based.

Despite having steered Iraq to their surprise Asian Cup triumph, Olsen's predecessor Jorvan Vieira quit the job, saying it was too stressful to continue.

Hamad's troubles were compounded when Fifa temporarily banned Iraq from international football after the government sacked the country's football federation midway through their qualifying campaign, reportedly for sectarian reasons.

Recommend this article...

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto: