South Africa demand Everton sanction

World football's governing body forced the Barclays Premier League club to release the midfielder for the African Nations Cup on Monday, after the Toffees had tried to delay his departure.

"For the South African Football Association, our intention is not to punish the player, because the player is not to be blamed in this particular instance," a spokesman for the South African FA said. "We've played the game by the rules, so FIFA will have to sanction the team."

Manager David Moyes was desperate to keep hold of the player for Tuesday's Carling Cup semi-final first leg at Chelsea after disputing the thrust of FIFA's 14-day rule.

Moyes' view was that the regulations did not make it clear whether players should be released 14 days ahead of the start of the competition, or 14 days ahead of a specific country's first match.

The tournament starts in Ghana on January 20, but South Africa's first match is not until January 23 against Angola.

Pienaar was expected to fly to Pretoria on Sunday, but trained with Everton at their Finch Farm complex on Monday.

But by mid-afternoon, South Africa had formally asked FIFA to intervene, and the Toffees were contacted by the world's governing body and told their interpretation of the rule was wrong and that Pienaar should be released immediately.

Moyes said: "The rules, in my view, do not stipulate exactly whether it is 14 days before the tournament or 14 days before South Africa's first game. We have taken the latter view.

"We pay his wages, we pay him well and he is an employee of Everton and 14 days is more than enough time to prepare for the African Cup of Nations - which comes in the middle of our season. From my point of view as Everton manager, I fought tooth and nail for him. I was not going to let it go without a fight."