CAF Fines Equatorial Guinea $100,000

Kicks Morocco Out Of 2017, 2017 AFCON

AFRICAN football chiefs Friday hit Equatorial Guinea with a $100,000 fine for unrest in the Africa Cup of Nations semi-final between the hosts and Ghana in which 36 fans were injured. But the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said that despite disturbances blamed on Equatorial Guinea fans in Thursday’s semi-final defeat to Ghana, supporters would be allowed into the country’s third-place play off against Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday.

  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 today’s third place play-off behind closed doors was suspended “to promote a spirit of fair-play and brotherhood during the AFCON 2015.” 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.”

  Today’s play-off is being 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.

  The game was halted for over half an hour, with Ghana eventually winning 3-0 to set up a final on Sunday with Ivory Coast in Bata.

  CAF was harder on Morocco, who it kicked out of the 2017 and 2019 editions of the AFCON and fined $1 million for refusing to host this year’s event due to fears over Ebola.

  CAF also ordered the Royal Moroccan Football Federation to pay just over $8 million ($9m) in compensation.

  “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 a CAF statement.

  “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.

  “…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 by CAF, stakeholders and partners as a result of the decision not to host AFCON 2015.”