FIFA has suspended Greece defender Kostas Manolas for a World Cup qualifying playoff for "intentionally seeking a yellow card."
Manolas was adjudged to be guilty of trying to manipulate his disciplinary record in a World Cup qualifier by getting a yellow card that triggered a one-match ban.
He served that in Greece's final group-stage qualifier, cleaning his record for the playoffs against Croatia. Had he picked up that yellow card in the final qualifier, he would have been suspended for the first leg of the playoff.
He will now be suspended anyway, as the FIFA sanction announced on Friday is an additional ban for deception.
Manolas will miss the first leg of the playoffs away to Croatia on Thursday. He is eligible for the return game three days later in Greece.
The Roma defender was shown a yellow card for time-wasting in the 90th minute of Greece's 2-1 win at Cyprus. He then sat out a home game against Gibraltar three days later, which Greece won 4-0.
