FIFA's disciplinary committee has turned down an appeal by the Uzbekistan Football Federation to overturn a two-match ban for five players accused of deliberately getting yellow cards, an official said Tuesday.

The players collected yellow cards for wasting time towards the end of a 2-0 win over Tajikistan in November, so that they would be suspended for a meaningless final group game instead of the next stage of World Cup qualifying, FIFA said.

Shavkatjon Mulladjanov, Sanjar Tursunov, Islom Tuhtahujaev, Server Djeparov and Vagiz Galiulin will be suspended for first game in the fourth qualifying round, as well as the game against Japan on Wednesday that they would have missed anyway.

The president of the Uzbekistan Football Federation, Mirabror Usmanov, said on Tuesday that FIFA had thrown out an appeal.

The players were also fined 3,000 Swiss francs ($3,300) each, with a separate 18,000 Swiss francs ($19,600) penalty issued to the federation.

Some of Europe’s top club sides, including Barcelona and Real Madrid, have previously been accused of deliberately earning yellow cards to serve suspensions in less important games.

Uzbekistan is progressing as a footballing nation in Central Asia, and reached the semifinals of the Asian Cup in 2011.

The Uzbekistan Football Federation has set a target of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, which would be the country’s first appearance in the competition.