Rwanda Football Federation has accused African football governing body (Caf) of applying double standards as the decision to disqualify Amavubi from the group stages of 2015 Afcon final round qualifiers was upheld.

The Appeals Board of Caf upheld the decision of the Organising Committee of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, which, on August 17, disqualified Rwanda after a petition by the Congolese Football Federation accusing  Amavubi of using an ineligible player, Dady Birori, who is also known as Tady Agiti Etekiama.

The Republic of Congo’s protest followed the first leg match of the second round qualifier against Amavubi on July 20, 2014, in Pointe-Noire, which the home team won 2-0. Rwanda overturned the result and made it 2-2 on aggregate and went on to win the tie 4-3 in penalty shootouts on August 2 in Kigali.

Republic of Congo complained that Amavubi striker Birori, who played in the first leg in Congo, but missed the return leg, features for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) side AS Vita Club under a different name; Etekiama Agiti Tady, as well as different age. 

As a result, Caf reinstated Congo in Group A for the last phase of qualification and will compete against Nigeria, South Africa and Sudan.

Rwanda lodged an appeal against the decision which was rejected, and according to the Ferwafa secretary general Olivier Mulindahabi, Caf went against their own rules by considering Congo’s complaint.

"They (Caf) made the decision, which we find totally unfair on Rwanda, but it goes a long way to show that Caf, sometimes don’t follow their rules,” Mulindahabi said during a press conference on Sunday, which was organised to brief local media on the outcome of the appeal.

Mulindahabi said that Congo Brazzaville accused Rwanda of using Birori, who they claimed is not a Rwandan but a Congolese (DR Congo).

"We have ten days in which to decide whether to make another appeal at a higher level (Court of Arbitration for Sports), but we have to look at all possible angles to see if it is good to continue or not,” he noted.

Article 41

This follows the Appeals Board hearing of 27 August, 2014 in Cairo, Egypt which upheld the decision of August 17 of the Organising Committee of the Africa Cup of Nations, which disqualified Rwanda based on Article 41 of the Afcon 2015 regulations.

The regulations state that any team that has committed fraud on the identity of a player for qualification and/or involved a suspended player will lose the match and shall be eliminated from the competition by decision of the Organising Committee, who would decide on such matters with facts clearly established.

Caf statement

"It was established that the player Birori, playing with the national team of Rwanda was the same (player) that played in the Champions League with the club AS Vita using the name Etekiama Agiti Tady.”

"Based on the documents on record, it was evident that the Rwandan federation was aware of this double identity but proceeded to feature the player for the national team while he held a different identity with the club,” the Caf statement reads in parts.

24 hours rule

According to Mulindahabi, Congo submitted their protest letter 20 days after the game yet Caf rules allow only 24 hours.

"It is double standards for Caf to take a decision to ban Rwanda based on information that they received 20 days after the game and not 24 hours,” he stated.

The official also noted that another sticky point in the case was that Birori’s testimony didn’t show that he featured in any team in Rwanda, while the Congolese federation showed that he played several DRC clubs namely; Birombe, Virunga, Kabasha, Lupopo and AS Vita.

The DR Congo-born striker played for Rwandan clubs including; Kibuye FC, Mukura, Atraco and Kiyovu Sports Club before moving to Congo.