England striker Wayne Rooney's Euro 2012 suspension has been reduced to two games on appeal by UEFA.
England striker sees suspension cut to two games
England striker Wayne Rooney's Euro 2012 suspension has been reduced to two games on appeal by UEFA.
The Manchester United star attended a disciplinary hearing alongside Three Lions boss Fabio Capello in Nyon on Thursday morning.
European football's governing body agreed that the original punishment, handed out following Rooney's red card in the final qualifier against Montenegro for kicking out at Miodrag Dzudovic, was too harsh.
The original three-match term has been reduced to two on appeal, with the final penalty suspended for a period of four years.
Rooney will now be available for England's final Group D fixture against Ukraine, but will still sit out the opener with France and the Sweden clash.
Rooney travelled to Nyon for the 90-minute hearing on Thursday morning directly from Basel where United suffered a shock UEFA Champions League defeat at the hands of Basel which sent them tumbling out of the competition.
Both Rooney and Capello spoke in front of the three-man UEFA disciplinary commission who were impressed with the case which was put before them.
The ban for the third match will only kick in if he is sent off in another European fixture for his country, with any club commitments for United in the Europa League having no impact on international action.
Very important
Club England Managing Director Adrian Bevington told
Sky Sports News: "I am pleased to say we've had a very fair hearing from UEFA's panel today.
"Wayne's presence here was clearly important so I would like to make special thanks to Manchester United, David Gill and Sir Alex Ferguson for releasing Wayne to be present.
"Wayne has also agreed to support one day of a UEFA programme and we would expect him to do so while he is on national team duty, so there is no impact on his Manchester United time.
"The commission considered everything. They listened to evidence from Wayne and Fabio Capello and we are pleased with the outcome."
"Clearly it was very important that Wayne and Fabio attended and the outcome of Wayne being available for the third group game is a positive result for us.
"Wayne and Fabio are both very pleased. Wayne will now head back to Manchester as a matter of priority, but both are very satisfied and feel they have had a fair hearing today.
"Wayne always made it clear he accepted it was a red card offence and we are very pleased with the outcome.
"We arrived with the possibility of Wayne Rooney missing the entire group phase so to have him available for the final group game against Ukraine is a positive result for us and Wayne Rooney as well."
