AFCON: CAF Makes Final Decision On Tunisia, Mali Match
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has said the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals 2021 Group F match between Tunisia and Mali shall not be replayed despite a protest by Tunisia.
The football body received an official complaint from the Tunisian team about the conduct of referee Janny Sikazwe during the match.
The Zambian official blew the full-time whistle with five minutes of regulation left to play, and after protests, he resumed the game but ended it again in the 89th minute.
Protests continued from the Tunisian team, and CAF officials at the stadium then ordered both teams to get back on to the pitch and finish the remaining minute plus the additional time with a new referee.
However, Tunisia players didn’t turn up and decided to file an official complaint to CAF.
In a statement, CAF announced that it has turned down Tunisia’s protest and confirmed that the match will not be replayed. The statement reads:
The Organising Committee of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021 met today to deliberate on the match between Tunisia and Mali played yesterday, 12 January 2022.
After examining the protest of Tunisia and all the match officials report, the Organising Committee decided the following:
– To dismiss the protest lodged by the Tunisian team.
– To homologate the match result as 1-0 in favour of Mali.
