By Mike Collett
Emmanuel Eboue of the Ivory Coast, Faouzi Chaouchi and Nadir Belhadj of Algeria and Aurelien Chedjou of Cameroon were among those red carded in the tournament and faced the prospect of missing matches in the World Cup.
A FIFA spokesman explained the amnesty was approved by FIFA as CAF, the African confederation, was the only one to stage a competitive tournament after the end of the World Cup qualifiers last November.
"It would not have been fair to punish players from CAF as no other confederation has played competitive games since the end of the qualifiers," he said.
Issa Hayatou, the president of CAF, declared a general amnesty for all ongoing sanctions "with the exception of those imposed as a result of physical aggression against a referee or an official."
Algerian goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi, who pushed his face toward the referee's in their semi-final against Egypt, is also eligible to play in the World Cup as he has already served his suspension in African Cup qualifiers for the next finals.
The only players suspended at the start of the World Cup are New Zealand goalkeeper Glen Moss, who is banned from the All Whites first two Group F games against Slovakia and Italy, and North Korean midfielder Kim Yong-jun, who is suspended for their opening Group G match against Brazil.
They were both sent off in World Cup qualifiers.
Honduras coach Reinaldo Rueda will also be banned from the dugout for his team's first Group H match against Chile after he was sent off in their last World Cup qualifier against El Salvador in October.
(Editing by Michael Holden)
