FIFA rejects appeal by the Brazilian Football Confederation

The FIFA has rejected the appeal filed by the Brazilian Football Confederation and Neymar will miss the first two matches of the qualifying phase for the 2018 World Cup. The Barcelona player was suspended for four games after the altercation with Murillo, Bacca and the referee in the match against Colombia in the group stage of the last Copa America.

Initially, the CBF did not appeal the sanction and preferred Neymar to leave the Brazilian concentration in Chile. However, a few days later, an appeal was filed with FIFA so that the player would serve the remaining two games in the next Copa America (he has already served two).

Therefore, Neymar will not be available for the first two opponents in the group stage of Russia 2018. The draw for the group stage will take place on July 25, and that's when Dunga will find out against which teams he will have to play without his captain.

"The appeal for Neymar was dismissed by the Disciplinary Committee of FIFA. The CBF will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport," said Carlos Eugenio, legal director of the CBF, to the newspaper Folha.

The Brazilian organization bases its appeal on the fact that the Copa America is not directly related to World Cup qualifiers, and that's why they request that the sanction be served in the next edition of the South American tournament.