Chad disqualified from 2021 African Cup of Nations

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Confederation of African Football has today disqualified the Chadian National Football team from the qualifiers of Total Africa Cup of Nations 2021.

This follows the suspension of the Chadian Football Federation by the Chadian Ministry of Youth and Sports, according to a press release dated  March 22, 2021. It is signed by CAF Communications Director Alexandre Siewe.

“Following the suspension of the Chadian Football Federation by the Chadian Ministry of Youth and Sports, CAF has decided to disqualify the National Team of Chad from the qualifiers of Total African Cup of Nations 2021” reads a statement from CAF.

According to CAF, Chad will be considered losers of the next two games that they were supposed to play in the AFCON qualifiers and the opponents will be rewarded three points each, in line with CAF regulations.

“Consequently, scheduled qualifier matches between Namibia and Mali for Total AFCON 2021 are cancelled, in line with article 61 and article 64 of the CAF regulations, Chad is considered a loser of both matches…” the statement adds. 

Article 61 of the regulations stipulates that If a team withdraws without having played half of the group matches, the overall results of the matches in which this team participated are cancelled. Otherwise, if a team withdraws after participating in all the matches in the first half of the group matches, the remaining matches to be played in the said group are lost by three goals to nil.

On the other hand, article 64 stipulates that if a team withdraws from the competition or does not report for a match, except in cases of force majeure or refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorization of the referee, it shall be considered looser and shall be eliminated for good from the competition.

Chad was playing in Group A alongside Mali, Guinea and Namibia.  However, after four matches, Mali is on top of the group with 10 points, followed by Guinea (8 points) and Namibia (3 points). Chad was trailing the group on one point. 

This is however not the first time CHAD faces challenges with AFCON Qualifiers. In 2017, the Chadian National withdrew from the 2017 AFCON qualifiers, citing financial constraints as their reason for pulling out.

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URN