Morocco banned from future tournaments while Equatorial Guinea face crackdown
Morocco were kicked out of the 2017 and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations on Friday while Equatorial Guinea were punished for the unrest in Thursday’s semi-finals in which 36 fans were injured.
Morocco were also fined US$1 million and ordered to pay just over $9m 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 the 2015 event, were being fined $100,000 after violent scenes in their 3-0 semi-final defeat to Ghana.
Meanwhile, Tunisia’s soccer chief was banned from all African football activities for claiming his team was cheated out of a quarter-final win against the hosts.
CAF refused to accept Morocco’s reasons for pulling out of hosting the 2015 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,” said CAF.
“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 $1 million.”
Despite disturbances blamed on Equatorial Guinea fans in Thursday’s semi-final defeat to Ghana in Malabo, supporters were still allowed into the country’s third-place playoff against Democratic Republic of Congo overnight.
CAF meted out the fine to the Nations Cup hosts “for aggressive behaviour and being repeat offenders” for crowd trouble, said a confederation statement.
An order to play the third-place play-off behind closed doors was suspended “to promote a spirit of Fair-play and brotherhood during the AFCON2015”.
But 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 play-off was to be held at the same 15,000-seater stadium in Malabo where Equatorial Guinea’s supporters pelted Ghanaian fans with plastic bottles and chairs on Thursday night.