Zimbabwe have been expelled from 2018 World Cup qualifying for failing to pay former coach Jose Claudinei Georgini.
Football's world governing body
Fifa said in a statement
it had taken the action "as a result of the non-payment of an outstanding debt".
Fifa added that Zimbabwe's Football Association (Zifa) failed to make the payments despite a grace period.
Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela told BBC Sport that the body would appeal against the ruling.
"We have already started to engage authorities in
Zurich," he said. "In any process you can appeal - just because a ruling
has been declared, it doesn't mean the door has been closed."
Zimbabwe, who have never qualified for a World Cup, have to act
quickly because the draw for the African zone qualifiers for the
tournament in Russia will take place in July, with matches set to kick
off in October.
Zifa is in dire financial trouble, with debts of more than US$4m (£2.7m) , and was
recently forced to auction assets from its Fifa-financed training centre
to settle a legal dispute with a former employee. The financial problems date back a long way and when
Georgini, nicknamed Valinhos, was appointed in 2008 it was announced
that
the Brazilian's salary would be paid by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority
as part of a 2010 World Cup memorandum of understanding between the tourism body and Zifa.
It is understood that Valinhos is owed $67,000
(£45,000) in salary and allowances from his spell as coach between
January and November 2008.
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