Zurich:
FIFA ruled out the possibility of replaying the France-Ireland World Cup qualifier on Friday, rejecting an Irish appeal to stage the playoff again after Thierry Henry handled the ball to set up the deciding goal in extra time.
"In the reply, FIFA states that the result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed," FIFA said in a statement. "As is clearly mentioned in the Laws of the Game, during matches, decisions are taken by the referee and these decisions are final."
Henry used his left hand to keep the ball from going out of play, then passed to William Gallas who headed in the decisive goal. At the time of Henry's unpunished handball, the match was 17 minutes from reaching a penalty shootout.
The match at Stade de France ended in a 1-1 draw, enough to put France through to next year's World Cup in South Africa because the 1998 world champions won the first leg of the playoff in Dublin 1-0.
Henry admitted later that he handled the ball, but Swedish referee Martin Hansson did not spot the infraction.