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Cape Verde have lost their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) over the Fifa ruling which resulted in them being kicked out of the World Cup qualifying competition.

Cape Verde, who beat Tunisia 2-0 to finish top of African Group B, forfeited the match after Fifa ruled Fernando Varela had been ineligible to play.

Tunisia were awarded a 3-0 win which put them top of the group and into the play-off round in Cape Verde's place.

Cas said Cape Verde's appeal was "unfounded".

Varela was banned for four matches after being sent off in an earlier Group B game against Equatorial Guinea, which Cape Verde lost 4-3.

That result itself was overturned and the game awarded to Cape Verde 3-0 after Fifa ruled that Equatorial Guinea's Emilio Nsue, who scored a hat-trick, was not eligible to play.

Cape Verde argued that the red card and subsequent ban should not have counted as the match had been declared void.

They appealed to Fifa but football's world governing body upheld its decision.