The Guinean Football Federation (Feguifoot) officially confirmed on Thursday, November 21, 2024, that it has filed a complaint with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) regarding the qualification of Tanzania. In its complaint, the highest body of Guinean football said that Tanzania had fielded a player not listed on the match sheet. Feguifoot communicated this allegation through a press release, the entirety of which is presented below:
“The Guinean Football Federation informs the public and supporters of Syli National that it has officially confirmed the complaints filed on November 19, 2024, following match no. 143 between Tanzania and Guinea, as part of the qualifiers for the Cup of Nations (CAN) 2025, in accordance with article 43.5 of the CAN Regulations.
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This complaint is based on a serious irregularity observed in the 73rd minute of the match, where the Tanzanian team brought in a player with the number 26, even though no player with this number was listed on the match sheet.
This anomaly violates fundamental provisions of CAF regulations regarding player identification and raises concerns that could compromise the integrity of the competition.
In the 73rd minute of the match, a Tanzanian player wearing number 26 entered the field. After checking the official match sheet, it was revealed that no player wearing number 26 was listed.
The situation was made worse by the absence of a registered number coupled with a lack of name on the jersey, making any verification of the player’s identity virtually impossible.
Article 50 of the Regulations states: “Players’ jerseys and shorts must comply with CAF equipment regulations.” According to the 2013 CAF Equipment Regulations, including Articles 10.01, 10.05, 15.08, 16.07, 23.07 and 26.04, the jersey number plays an essential and inseparable role in the player identification system on the field.
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Indeed, its role is fundamental for the following reasons:
Article 71 of the Regulations stipulates: “Each federation must communicate to CAF, one month before the start of the final tournament, the main and reserve colors of its equipment, in accordance with the CAF equipment regulations. Numbers 1 to 23 on jerseys and shorts as well as the names of the players on the jerseys must comply with CAF equipment regulations. The number 1 is reserved exclusively for one of the goalkeepers. The numbers on the back of the jerseys must. match those on the team’s final roster.”
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Although provided for in the chapter relating to the organization of the final tournament, this article establishes a general principle applicable by analogy to the qualifying phases, according to which the numbers on the jerseys must correspond to those appearing on the official documents, including the sheets match.
In reality, there is no objective reason to apply this principle — the objective of which is to ensure the transparency and integrity of competitions — only to the final tournament and not to the qualifying phases.
In other words, Articles 50 and 71 of the Regulations establish that only players whose jersey number matches that appearing on the match sheet are eligible to participate in the match in question.
Article 42.12 of the Regulations states: “A team which uses an unqualified or suspended player in group matches will lose the match by penalty (3-0), even in the absence of protests/reservations.”
In this case, the player wearing the number 26 on the jersey had not been recorded with that number on the match sheet. Therefore, according to the aforementioned principles, the player in question was not eligible to participate in the match.
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By fielding this player in the 73rd minute wearing number 26, Tanzania effectively used an unqualified player.
Therefore, under Article 42.12 of the Regulations, Tanzania should be considered to have lost the match by penalty. The victory and the three associated points should therefore be awarded to Guinea.
In addition, the Guinean Football Federation also requested the application of Article 47 of the Regulations, which states: “For any administrative error in the registration of players, the national association concerned will be suspended from participation in the next edition of the CAN, and his team will be eliminated from the competition if it is still underway.”
Indeed, lining up a player with a number not referenced on the match sheet constitutes an administrative error. Therefore, the Guinean Football Federation humbly asked CAF to apply the CAN regulations in all their rigor.
Additionally, the Guinean Football Federation reported the inexplicable behavior of the Kenyan Match Commissioner, Mr. Francis Oliele, who denied Guinea the right to make a protest at the end of the match, ignoring CAN regulations.
He even went so far as to instruct Guinean officials to call on CAF rather than him. It took the dexterity of our Secretary General and the captain of our team for him to bend and accept our complaint against his will, after being pressed by a manager of the CAF Competitions Division.
This behavior of this official demonstrates the unfairness of having both the Match Commissioner and the Security Manager coming from Kenya, a country of which they are all members of the same CECAFA zonal union.
It should also be noted that the sudden and vexatious decision to change the kick-off time from 4 p.m. GMT to 1 p.m. GMT was a detrimental factor which significantly contributed to the moral and physiological imbalance of the group, given that playing 35 degrees for a team largely made up of players based in Europe was a real ordeal, especially since they were only warned 48 hours in advance.
Indeed, after being informed by CAF of the change in kick-off time, the Guinean Football Federation vigorously protested through an email addressed to the CAF Competitions Division, expressing its astonishment at note that it was only 48 hours before the match that CAF recognized the lighting deficiencies at the Mpaka National Stadium, after five days of qualifying for the CAN.
If there had been a change of venue for the match, one would assume the new venue had lighting issues.
This decision was deemed unfair by the Guinean Football Federation, as all preparations for our national team as well as the delegation’s travel schedule had been made taking into account the initially scheduled kick-off time of 7 p.m. , local time. The recovery time linked to the 9 hours of travel from Abidjan to Dar-Es-Salam via Luanda is therefore reduced by 3 hours.
This change in kick-off time to 1:00 p.m. GMT or 4:00 p.m. local time affected the integrity, fairness and sincerity of the match result, as it caused enormous harm to our preparation program for the crucial match TANZANIA-GUINEA, which should determine the country qualified for the next CAN in Morocco.
In conclusion, the Guinean Football Federation expects CAF to deliver justice and invites the sporting public to remain calm.
She made enormous sacrifices to obtain significant results and develop the practice of football throughout the national territory. Proof of this is the investment of 40% of its development budget to build three (03) state-of-the-art synthetic turf football fields in three regions of our country which previously had none.
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