El Hadary's Fifa ban blocked

El Hadary will now be available for Egypt's next World Cup qualifiers

Sport's highest court has temporarily blocked Fifa from handing a four-month ban to Essam El Hadary, pending a final ruling of the Egypt goalkeeper's appeal.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said it has "frozen" the penalties handed out by world football's governing body on El Hadary and his current club, FC Sion.

El Hadary had an acrimonious departure from Cairo club Al Ahly, switching without their permission to FC Sion in Switzerland.

He took advantage of a contentious CAS ruling allowing players to buy out the remainder of their contracts.

Fifa banned El Hadary for four months and ordered him and Sion to pay US$1.3m in compensation to Ahly.

But CAS has suspended the punishments while it decides on El Hadary's appeal against them.

CAS says it will make a decision in about four months time, meaning that El Hadary should be available for most of the remainder of Egypt's 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

El Hadary shocked Ahly when he left for Europe shortly after Egypt's successful Africa Cup of Nations campaign in Ghana in February 2008.