The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has finally delivered its verdict in the case between USM Alger and RS Berkane. According to consistent sources, the governing body of continental football imposed a financial fine on USM Algiers after examining the files relating to the home and away matches between the Algerian club and the Moroccan team.
The same sources report that CAF judged that the cancellation of the matches caused financial losses, thus leading to a fine of $40,000 against the club.
This decision was taken in application of article 148 of the disciplinary regulations, in particular the clause relating to “abandonment of the game”.
The CAF sanction comes with a clear delay, because the meeting of the Disciplinary Jury was initially scheduled to be held on May 15. However, a meeting in Bangkok between the president of the Algerian Football Federation (FAF), Walid Sadi, and the leaders of the CAF, in particular its president Patrice Motsepe and its secretary general Véron Mosengo-Omba, would have changed the situation. According to revelations by Algerian journalist Yazid Ouahib, known to be close to the president of the FAF, the secretary general of the CAF would have agreed to postpone the meeting of the Disciplinary Jury, thus delaying the sanctions against the Algerian club.
Read also: Algerian jeremiads in Bangkok: will CAF postpone the sanctions against the USMA for the sake of the FAF?
As a reminder, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected, on Friday May 10, the request presented by the FAF and the USMA concerning the appeal against the decision of the Appeal Commission of the Confederation of African Football (CAF ), issued on April 30. The latter had ruled on the round-trip defeat of the Algerian team and the qualification of the Renaissance sportive de Berkane (RSB) team for the final of the CAF Cup.
The CAS also rejected, on May 3, another urgent request from the Algerian Football Federation to open the file of the match between the Union Sportive de la Médina d’Algiers and the Renaissance sportive de Berkane for the semi-finals. of the African Football Confederation Cup.
On April 26, the CAS again rejected an urgent request from the FAF aimed at “immediately suspending” the execution of the CAF decision which had validated the RSB jerseys, flocked with the full map of the Kingdom.
“This request was rejected ex parte by the president of the CAS Appeals Chamber,” explained the body in a press release published on Thursday, May 2.
