By Augustine Akhilomen
The Confederation Of Africa Football (CAF) have disqualified Algerian
club Entente Setif, who were in the same group with Enyimba FC from the
CAF Champions League over crowd misconduct.
A decision was reached late Thursday night as CAF Committees met and
decided the fate of Setif that lost their opening match on last week
Saturday to South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns 2-0 at their own backyard,
which prompted fans to throw missiles, stones, bottles and firecrackers
on the pitch.
Besides, the referee had to abandon the said match before its end which didn’t go down well with CAF.
In a statement on their website: “Match officials noted especially the
pitch invasion as well as numerous throws of missiles, stones, bottles,
and firecrackers, provoking a certain number of injured spectators and
members of the security forces.
“The CAF Organizing Committee for the Inter-Clubs Competitions decided
to apply the provisions of Chapter XII para 3 and considered ES Sétif
loser and eliminated from the competition without prejudice to any other
sanctions that may be imposed by CAF Disciplinary Board.
“Chapter XII para 3 stipulates: ‘3. If the referee is forced to stop the
match before the end of the regular time because of invasion of the
field or aggression against the visiting team, the host team shall be
considered loser and shall be eliminated from the competition, without
prejudice to the sanctions existing in the regulations.’
CAF added: “Concerning the result of the said match, it is hence
cancelled in conformity with the spirit of article XI.13 of the
regulations stipulating: ‘If a team withdraws after the start of the
group matches without having played half of the group matches, the
overall results of the matches in which this team participated is
cancelled.”
