CAF Disqualifies Chad from Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers

CAF Disqualifies Chad from Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers

- CAF took the drastic decision over claims Chad's football management was being micromanaged

- The Chadian government, through the ministry of Youth and Sports disbanded the nation's football federation

- The move did not augur well with CAF, with the continental football governing body announcing Les Sao are now out of the 2022 AFCON Qualifiers

- Chad were scheduled to take on Mali and Namibia in two of their remaining Group A matches this week

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Chad have been dealt a massive football blow after being disqualified from the remainder of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers.

Caf Disqualifies Chad from Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers
Chad were already out of running for a slot in the tournament's finals in Cameroon slated for early 2022. Photo: GABRIEL BOUYS.
Source: UGC

The Confederation of African Football announced the development on Monday, March 22, revealing the move was made due to external interference of football management in the country by the Chad government.

Earlier in March, the Chadian government, through the ministry of Youth and Sports disbanded the nation's football federation over concerns on how it was managing football.

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The move did not go down well with Caf, with the continental football governing body accusing the state of micromanaging football affairs in the West African country.

In a statement by CAF, Les Sao will now not play their fixtures against Namibia and Mali that were lined up for this week.

Instead, their two opponents will be handed a walkover of 3-0 scorelines as per CAF guidelines on disqualification of countries.

“Following the withdrawal of the FTF's approval by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Chad, Caf has decided to disqualify the Chad national team from the qualifiers for the Total Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021,” Caf said in a statement.
“Consequently, scheduled qualifier matches between Namibia (match 106) and Mali (match 130) for Total Afcon 2021 are canceled. In line with Article 61 read together with Article 64 of the Caf Regulations, Chad is considered a loser of both matches against Namibia and Mali," the statement added.

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CAF's decision notwithstanding, Chad were already out of running for a slot in the tournament's finals in Cameroon slated for early 2022.

Guinea were the other side pooled with Chad in Group A of the qualifiers.

Mali, who have all but qualified top the charts with 13 points, five above second-placed Mali.

Namibia are placed third with six points, with Chad bottom with just a point from four rounds of matches.

Ibitoye Shittu is an award winning Sports Journalist with more than 10 years experience in News-writing, reporting and Public Relation. He is an HND and B.SC holder of Mass Communication and can be reached on Twitter @Ibishittu

Source: Legit.ng

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Ibitoye Shittu avatar

Ibitoye Shittu Ibitoye Shittu is an award-winning Sports Journalist with more than 10 years of experience in News-writing, reporting and Public Relations. He is a B.SC holder in Mass Communication and can be reached on Twitter @ibishittu

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Khadijah Thabit (Copyeditor) Khadijah Thabit is an editor with over 3 years of experience editing and managing contents such as articles, blogs, newsletters and social leads. She has a BA in English and Literary Studies from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Khadijah joined Legit.ng in September 2020 as a copyeditor and proofreader for the Human Interest, Current Affairs, Business, Sports and PR desks. As a grammar police, she develops her skills by reading novels and dictionaries. Email: khadeeejathabit@gmail.com