The South Africa Football Association (Safa) has called on Fifa to punish Everton following the club's attempts to hold on to Steven Pienaar.

World football's governing body forced the English Premier League club to release the midfielder for the Africa Nations Cup.

Everton had tried to keep Pienaar for Tuesday's Carling Cup semi-final against Chelsea.

But Fifa backed South Africa's stance that the 14-day rule for international players related to the start of the tournament on 20 January.

Now their stance has been vindicated, the South Africans have called for action against Everton.

"Our intention is not to punish the player, because the player is not to be blamed in this particular instance," said a Safa spokesman.

"We've played the game by the rules, so FIFA will have to sanction the team."

Pienaar trained with Everton on Monday but by mid-afternoon, Safa had formally asked Fifa to intervene to end the confusion.