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Thierry Henry escapes Fifa punishment for handball

Thierry Henry Handball

Committee finds there is ‘no legal foundation’ for case against the former Arsenal man

BY Jonathan Harwood LAST UPDATED AT 19:18 ON Mon 18 Jan 2010

Thierry Henry has escaped punishment from Fifa for the notorious handball that helped France qualify for the World Cup at the expense of Ireland, and caused international outrage.

Fifa's disciplinary committee met on Monday to discuss what sanction they could impose on the French striker, whose fall from grace has been as dramatic as Tiger Woods'. But in the end it decided it had "no legal foundation" to deal with the case.

The result means Henry, who became a pariah after the incident, will be free to play in the World Cup this summer.

The Barcelona forward set up France's winner in injury time of the play-off against Ireland by controlling the ball with his hand and crossing for team mate William Gallas to score.

TV pictures clearly showed Henry handling the ball and the Irish defence also saw what had happened, but the match officials allowed the goal to stand and France qualified for the tournament in South Africa.

The incident was immediately dubbed the 'hand of Frog' and Fifa president Sepp Blatter joined the condemnation of the player when he opined that Henry was guilty of "blatant unfair playing".

Ireland claimed they had been "cheated" out of a place in the World Cup and demanded a replay. When Fifa said the result must stand they appealed to be let into the tournament as the "33rd team". That request was also denied, but Fifa's executive committee ordered a case to be opened against Henry.

However Fifa's disciplinary committee has now ruled that as handball is not classified as "a serious infringement" it cannot prosecute the 32-year-old striker. "There is no other legal text that would allow the committee to impose sanctions for any incidents missed by match officials," it said.

Henry has since apologised and admitted that he considered quitting international football. However the incident will not be forgotten. It was voted most dramatic sports story of 2009 in France and several French sportsman condemned Henry.

Even his former international team mate Zinedine Zidane said he hoped "Henry is not proud of his gesture". Zidane pointedly said he was glad he was sent off in the 2006 World Cup final against Italy for headbutting Marco Materazzi as he would not have been able to live with the guilt of his actions. · 

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