The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced on June 1, 2022 that its appeal jury finally ruled in favor of the Federation of Sao Tome and Principe in a dispute between it and that of Mauritius, concerning the eligibility of a Santomean player lined up in the preliminary round of the CAN 2023 qualifications. Consequence: Sao Tome is reinstated in the playoffs, while the Mauritian Federation could seize the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to challenge this new decision of the CAF.
New twist in the “Sao Tome and Principe versus Mauritius” file, this June 1, 2022. The appeal jury of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) agreed with the Sao Tomean Federation (FSF) concerning the eligibility of Santomean player Luis Leal, lined up in the preliminary round of CAN 2023. Consequence: the Seleção dos Falcões e Papagaios should play well in the group A matches against Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau, after having been excluded .
The CAF disciplinary jury had indeed leaned towards the arguments of the Mauritius Football Association (MFA). The MFA claimed that the experienced Portuguese-speaking striker had played the first leg (1-0 victory over Sao Tome) despite not having respected the pre-match anti-Covid protocol. The jury of appeal, for its part, considers in particular, in its conclusions, made public : “ Since neither the CAF Disciplinary Code nor the CAF Covid-19 Protocol provides for sanctions for failure to pass a mandatory PCR test, it is legally unfounded to consider the player in question as ineligible. »
” The decision of the CAF Disciplinary Jury is canceled in its entiretywrites the instance in a press release. The result of the match between Mauritius and São Tomé and Príncipe is therefore ratified and validated “.
Mauritius can seize the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Thanks to its 1-0 success in the first leg and a 3-3 draw in the return, Sao Tome and Principe is de facto reinstated for the group stage. It remains to be seen how the FSF will manage to gather its players on time to play the matches against Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria that the Mauritians were to play on June 9 and 13, 2022.
Mauritians who might not stop there. The decision of the appeal jury can be challenged before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Here too, the MFA will have to move quickly if it wants to reverse the order of things once again…