LDC CAF-Finale: CAF comes out of silence
CAF reacts to the controversy over the awarding of the Champions League final and explains the reasons which led to the choice of Morocco as host country.
The CAF Champions League final will be played in Morocco.
After the controversy, criticism and accusations, it’s time for explanations for the Confederation of African Football. The pan-African body will have taken nearly 72 hours before reacting officially to the outcry created by the decision to award Morocco the organization of the final of the Champions League, while the club Wydad Casablanca, winner of Petro Luanda in the semi-final first leg (1-3), has a good chance of reaching the final. The meeting being scheduled at the Stade Mohammed V, the Casaoui club would therefore find themselves playing the title in their own stadium. Decision taken after the first leg semi-finals.The withdrawal of Senegal as the main cause.An announcement that immediately created controversy in Egypt, where Al Ahly, winner of ES Setif in the other semi-final first leg (4-0), sees a clear advantage given to his potential future opponent. The Egyptian club wrote to CAF to express their disagreement with the choice of stadium and asked that the final be played on neutral ground. In the absence of a favorable response for the time being, the Egyptians have announced that they have seized the Court of Arbitration for Sport in order to make CAF bend .Faced with this situation, the Confederation of African Football has decided to explain the reasons which led to the choice of Morocco as host country. The country would be the only one to have submitted its candidacy, to maintain it and above all to respect the criteria to be selected. ” Morocco and Senegal were the only countries to fulfill the host country’s bid criteria, after CAF asked its 54 member associations to submit bids to host the final (…) Egypt did not did not submit an offer. South Africa and Nigeria have submitted documents expressing their interest in hosting the CAF Champions League, but have not met the host country’s candidacy criteria .Towards a return to the old formula in round-trip finals.Faced with the withdrawal of Senegal, there would therefore have been no other choice but to give the organization of the final of the Champions League to Morocco. Make a new call for applications? Impossible according to the body which indicates that: ” CAF was obliged to respect and implement the decision taken by the former management of CAF in July 2019, namely that the final of the Champions League would be a one-match final rather than the usual home and away final. In addition, CAF is also bound by the rules of CAF and FIFA which do not allow the rules of the competition to be changed once the competition has started. »While waiting to find out if Al Ahly and the Egyptian Federation will complete their action before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, CAF does not intend to reverse the decision taken, even if it means continuing to fuel the conspiracy theories that are flourishing on the web. . In order not to see this kind of scenario recurring, it is studying the conditions for a return to the old formula with a final contested in rounds and back, with a match for each of the finalists. Format abandoned in 2019 after the controversy during the final between Espérance Tunis and Wydad Casablanca.
The CAF Champions League final will be played in Morocco
Author : RUTEMBESA Anicet
eastafricanreport.com
