Ellan Vannin have been expelled by CONIFA following its withdrawal from the World Football Cup in London.

The Manx Independent Football Alliance team left the tournament early after their appeal to be reinstated into the competition’s quarter-finals was denied by organisers.

Ellan Vannin had originally complained to officials over the involvement of Mohamed Bettamer in Barawa’s fixtures despite being included after the squad submission deadline had passed.

The Manx team won their opening two games in Group A and appeared on course to progress to the knockout stages until Barawa beat them 2-0 on Sunday, with Bettamer scoring one and creating the other goal.

Subsequent appeals were thrown out by the committee, prompting an angry response by Ellan Vannin which culminated in the team withdrawing from their placing matches and therefore the tournament.

Now, CONIFA have moved to provisionally expel Ellan Vannin until it’s annual general meeting next January.

In a statement released on Thursday, CONIFA said: ‘The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) Executive Committee met on Wednesday to consider the recent actions of member team and 2018 Paddy Power World Football Cup participant Ellan Vannin.

‘The Executive Committee voted to provisionally expel Ellan Vannin from CONIFA, with a final decision on Ellan Vannin’s membership to be made by all members at the annual general meeting in January.

‘In coming to this decision, the Executive Committee considered the following matters:

‘A) The tournament rules permit the organising committee to amend or alter the rules where circumstances so require. The tournament rules do not require the organising committee to inform participating teams of any changes.

‘While CONIFA accepts that such communication is best practice and consistent with its belief in transparency – and has committed to undertaking a full review of its regulations following the tournament – CONIFA was under no obligation to inform participating teams of decisions concerning squad changes.

‘Ellan Vannin therefore had no valid grounds for its appeal regarding the eligibility of Mohamed Bettamer.

‘CONIFA also wishes to highlight that participating teams (including Ellan Vannin) made a total of 21 changes to their squads between the mandated deadline and the beginning of the tournament.

‘Not permitting Barawa to do so, given the extraordinary circumstances, would have been inconsistent and unfair.

‘CONIFA did not adopt a strict approach to the squad deadline because it appreciates the many hurdles its teams – many of whom are volunteer-run and do not receive state funding – face in forming a full squad and travelling to an international football tournament.

‘The Executive Committee is of the belief that this sympathetic approach is consistent with CONIFA’s core values;

‘B) In its press release of Tuesday, Ellan Vannin made numerous inaccurate and offensive statements. These – and its withdrawal from the 2018 Paddy Power World Football Cup – are contrary to the Statement of Conduct, which form part of the tournament rules.

‘Ellan Vannin’s conduct also represents a breach of the tournament participation contract, executed between CONIFA and Ellan Vannin. CONIFA will consider whether, pursuant to the contract, it will require Ellan Vannin to indemnify CONIFA for any losses suffered as a result of Ellan Vannin’s conduct.

‘C) Ellan Vannin’s withdrawal was done despite the rejection of its appeal being made by the tournament management committee, constituted by delegates of all participating teams and the organising committee. Accordingly, the decision represented CONIFA’s democratic will.

‘Ellan Vannin’s disrespect of this democratic decision is contrary to CONIFA’s core values.

‘CONIFA is deeply disappointed by the actions of Ellan Vannin, which have detracted from an otherwise incredibly successful 2018 Paddy Power World Football Cup.

‘CONIFA demand that Ellan Vannin apologise to all CONIFA members for its actions, and retract the inaccurate and offensive comments made about CONIFA, the Barawa Football Association and CONIFA general secretary Sascha Düerkop.’

So far there has been no official comment from MIFA or Ellan Vannin.