By; AYO OJEDOKUN, Lagos
Sao Tome and Principe has been restored into Group A of the qualifying series for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals after the CAF Appeals Board threw out Mauritius from the pool following the successful appeal of the former.
The case has done a yo-yo with São Tomé and Príncipe winning on the field of play, Mauritius winning their case at the Disciplinary Board against the former for fielding a player who tested positive for COVID19, and the Appeals Board now restoring São Tomé and Príncipe to the race and ejecting Mauritius.
Mauritius had protested to CAF that São Tomé and Príncipe player, Luis Leal Dos Anjos did not undergo the obligatory PCR test during their match on 24th March, 2022 in the frame of the AFCON 2023 qualifiers, but the Appeal Board ruled that “given that neither the CAF Disciplinary Code nor CAF’s COVID-19 protocols provide any sanctions for missing an obligatory PCR test, it is legally baseless to consider the player in question to be ineligible.”
Head Coach of Nigeria, Jose Santos Peseiro woke up to the news in New Jersey, where the Eagles play Ecuador in a friendly match on Thursday, and simply said: “We are focused on the friendly game with Ecuador. It is neither here nor there. We play whoever is in front of us.”
The latest decision means the NFF’s plans for the away match on 13th June, after the game against Sierra Leone in Abuja on 9th June, have now been diverted from east (Mauritius) to west (Marrakech), as São Tomé and Príncipe do not have an approved playing ground in their country and play their home matches in the dainty Moroccan city.
India 2022: Senegalese match officials arrive for Flamingos, Ethiopia clash
Nigeria is set to pick up another FIFA World Cup ticket in women’s football as the U17 Girls, Flamingos go up against their Ethiopian counterparts in the final round, final leg of their FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup fixture at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday.
The Flamingos won the first leg in Addis Ababa penultimate weekend 1-0, with a strike by goal-a-game forward Opeyemi Ajakaiye, who now has six goals in the campaign.
Officials for the big match are scheduled to arrive Nigeria on Thursday, led by Senegalese referee Mame Coumba Faye, who will take charge of proceedings. She will be assisted by compatriots Adia Isseu Cisse (assistant referee 1), Fatou Bintou Sene (assistant referee 2) and Fatou Thioune (fourth official).
The match commissioner is Aisha Nalule from Uganda while Emmanuella Grace Aglago from Ghana will serve as the referee assessor.
The winner on aggregate will pick one of Africa’s tickets to the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in India, already scheduled for 11th – 30th October.
Since the competition was launched in New Zealand in 2008, Nigeria have failed to qualify to participate in only tournament – the 2018 finals held in Uruguay.
