Reaction of the Executive Committee of CAF following decision of the CAS of 02-04-2015

05 April 2015 10:49

Cairo, April 5, 2015. Meeting in Cairo this day, the Executive Committee of the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) took note of the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) of 2^nd April, 2015 in the case brought before it by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF).

The Executive Committee noted that the CAS established that the Royal Moroccan Football Federation could not invoke “force majeure” in that the Ebola outbreak did not make it impossible for the AFCON to be organized in Morocco. In addition, the CAS admitted that the FRMF was responsible for the violation of Article 7 paragraph 1 a) of the statutes of CAF.

It should be recalled that the Executive Committee of CAF, in its decision of 6 February, 2015 in Malabo, had already indicated that the force majeure assertion by FRMF could not be accepted and that the Royal Moroccan Federation was guilty of infringing Article 7 paragraph 1 a) of CAF statutes.

It should also be noted that the CAS considered Morocco’s non-participation in AFCON2015 as a sanction. However, the ‘A’ national team of Morocco qualified for the AFCON because Morocco was the host of the competition. Therefore it automatically lost its qualification for 2015 following the country’s decision to renounce the right to organize the tournament.

The CAS therefore reached the same conclusions as the CAF Executive Committee but decided to annul the sanctions imposed.

CAF, which joined the authority of the jurisdiction of the CAS, has committed to implementing the decisions and will comply with this ruling despite the contradictions observed in the CAS decision.

The full press release after the Executive Committee meeting of February 6, 2015 in Malabo.

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