Morocco were kicked out of the 2017 and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Friday, while Equatorial Guinea were punished for the unrest in Thursday’s semi-final, in which 36 fans were injured.
Morocco were also fined US$1 million and ordered to pay just over US$8 million in compensation after they refused to host this year’s event due to fears over Ebola.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) executive committee also announced that Equatorial Guinea, who stepped in to host this year’s event, were being fined US$100,000 after violent scenes during their 3-0 semi-final defeat to Ghana.
Photo: AFP
Meanwhile, Tunisia’s soccer chief was banned from all African soccer activities for claiming his team was cheated out of a quarter-final win against the hosts.
The confederation refused to accept Morocco’s reasons for pulling out of hosting the event.
“The CAF executive committee considered that, contrary to what the Royal Moroccan Football Federation cited, force majeure cannot be accepted for the benefit of the federation,” the confederation said. “CAF decided to suspend the national team of Morocco from the next two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, 2017 and 2019, and to impose on the federation the regulatory fine of [US]$1 million.”
“They decided by a separate measure to be borne by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation the sum of eight million and fifty thousand euros in compensation for all material damage sustained,” it added.
Despite disturbances blamed on Equatorial Guinea fans in Malabo, supporters were still to be allowed into the country’s third-place playoff against the Democratic Republic of the Congo yesterday.
CAF meted out the fine to the Nations Cup hosts “for aggressive behavior and being repeat offenders” for crowd trouble, a confederation statement said.
An order to play the third place playoff behind closed doors was suspended “to promote a spirit of fair-play and brotherhood during the AFCON2015.”
However, CAF made it clear that if there was more unrest then it would “automatically impose the sanction of playing behind closed doors the Equatorial Guinean team’s next official match.”
The playoff was to be held at the same 15,000-seat stadium in Malabo where Equatorial Guinea’s supporters pelted Ghanaian fans with plastic bottles and chairs on Thursday night.
The game was halted for more than half an hour, with Ghana eventually winning 3-0 to set up a final today with Ivory Coast in Bata.
As the missiles rained down, the 500 visiting Ghana fans poured onto the pitch and play was halted eight minutes from time as security officials battled to regain control.
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) described the scene as a “war zone.”
After the match, the Ghanaian supporters were kept in the stadium for several hours while further chaos ensued outside the ground.
Equatorial Guinea supporters broke street light poles and overturned vendors’ tables.
The Ghana team were escorted to Malabo airport for the short flight from the island city to Bata on the mainland.
Equatorial Guinea’s governing Democratic Party blamed the country’s “eternal enemies” for Thursday’s violence in Malabo.
It hit out at “the acts of provocation designed to create the disorder ... perpetrated by the eternal enemies and detractors of our people and by their agents who wanted to disturb the peace.”
Meanwhile, Tunisian soccer chief Wadie Jary was banned from all CAF activities on Friday following claims his side were unfairly treated during their defeat to Equatorial Guinea.
The confederation ordered Jary and the Tunisian federation to apologize or provide evidence to back up their complaints before midnight on Thursday.
However, when no apology was made, CAF suspended Jary until an apology materialized. Tunisia were warned they also face the same fate as Morocco and will be banned from the 2017 Cup of Nations if they fail by March 31 to supply either an apology or proof of bias.
Tunisian tempers flared after Mauritian referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn awarded the hosts a dubious stoppage-time penalty that resulted in the equalizer in their quarter-final clash.
When the final whistle sounded after Equatorial Guinea won 2-1, riot police had to protect the match officials from furious Tunisian players.
CAF banned Seechurn for six months and dropped him from the elite referees panel.
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