LAGOS, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- World football governing body FIFA on Tuesday announced the suspension of six players from Thursday's semifinals of the Nigeria 2009 U-17 World Cup.

    The matches, billed for the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, have Switzerland facing Colombia and host Nigeria meeting Spain.

    According to the FIFA communications and public affairs division in Abuja, which released the news of the suspension, no Nigerian player is affected in the suspension.

    Colombia's Fabian Castillo and Daniel Catano will miss the Switzerland match after collecting a yellow card each in Sunday's penalty shoot out winning over Turkey in Bauchi.

    Castillo, who had played four matches so far with a goal to his credit, got his fourth yellow card in the competition with Sunday's booking.

    The South Americans, with 14 yellow cards, recorded the highest bookings so far in the competition.

    Castilo was booked against The Netherlands and Iran in the first round in Calabar, and went on to miss the final group game against The Gambia before bagging his third yellow card in the second round against Argentina.

    Catano, who is equally facing suspension, earned two consecutive yellow cards in both the second round match against Argentina and the quarterfinal match against Turkey in spite of coming in as a substitute in both games.

    Their semifinal opponents are having central defender Frederic Veseli and Pajtim Kasami suspended.

    Veseli was sent off and Kasami booked against Italy on Sunday in their 2-1 win at the Gateway International Stadium in Ijebu-Ode.

    Veseli, who had played his team's five matches so far, was only booked once earlier, against Mexico, while Kasami also bagged only one yellow card earlier against Japan.

    Spain, who was runners-up at the last edition of the competition in South Korea two years ago, will miss Marc Muniesa and Eduardo Ramos.

    Muniesa was sent off against Uruguay on Monday at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna during their quarterfinal win his first card in four appearances.

    Ramos, on his part, was booked in the 76th minute against Uruguay, his second in four matches after being booked against the U.S. in the first round.

    Only one Nigerian player, Stanley Okoro, has been booked so far in the competition since it began on Oct. 24.