The suspension of teams, referees and officials from international soccer threatened Sri Lanka playing Yemen in October in a two-leg series in the first round of Asian qualifying for the next World Cup being played across North America. The winner advances into a group with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and either Nepal or Laos.

FIFA imposed the sanction in January when the federation was not exempted from a Sri Lankan law that put limits on candidates for sports elections.

The federation should now have fresh elections on Sept. 29, FIFA said in a statement.

Sri Lanka’s men’s team is ranked 204 of the 211 FIFA member federations, 25 years since reaching its highest status of No. 122.

(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)