He was coaching Ghana as far back as 1968, he has taken Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to the World Cup and he has been on Fifa's technical Committee since 1971.

BBC: SPORT | Football | African | Parreira style

But Fifa president-elect Sepp Blatter's statements reinforcing this led to two days of tough justice and a rash of red cards - including one to French playmaker Zinedine Zidane, whose two-game ban after France's match against Saudi Arabia, put his World Cup future in doubt.

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