Simunic to miss World Cup after CAS upholds ban

"The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected the appeal filed by the Croatian football player Josip Simunic against the decision of the FIFA Appeal Committee issued on 21 February 2014," CAS said in a statement on Monday.

(Reuters)

At the end of Croatia's 2-0 win on November 19, 2013, Australia-born Simunic, who was also fined 30,000 Swiss francs (20,027 pounds), took the microphone at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, turned to the stands and shouted 'Za dom' (for the Homeland), to which the audience replied 'Spremni' (Ready).

The call-and-response salute is widely associated with Croatia's Nazi-allied Ustasha regime which ruled in 1941-45 and brutally persecuted Jews, Serbs, Gypsies and anti-fascist Croats.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot,; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)