Rwanda disqualified as Congo is reinstated in Afcon qualifiers

Rwanda has been disqualified from the qualifiers of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015 by the Organising Committee of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for fielding an ineligible player. The decision, taken today, followed a petition by the Congolese Football Federation following the first leg match of the second round of qualifier against Amavubi on July 20, 2014, in Pointe-Noire, which the home team won 2-0 before Rwanda overturned the result and made it 2-2 on aggregate and then winning 4-3 in penalty shootouts on August 2. Republic of Congo complained that Amavubi striker Birori Dady, who played in the first leg in Congo, features for DR Congo side AS Vita Club under a different name; Etekiama Agiti Tady, as well as different age. Birori did not play in the return leg in Kigali. “Following investigations by CAF and on the basis of documents provided by the federations of Rwanda, Congo and DR Congo, and hearing the players testimony on 11 August 2014 at CAF headquarters in Cairo, CAF established that the two identities only referred to a single person,” read a statement on CAF website. “Based on these and other findings, the Organising Committee of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations in accordance with Article 41 of the regulations of the Africa Cup of Nations, and Articles 82 and 83.1 of CAF Disciplinary Code, made the following decisions: To immediately suspend the player (Etekiama Agiti Tady / Birori Dady) until further notice and ban him from playing for club and the national team and overturned Amavubi win against Congo, and consequently being eliminated from the competition. Consigned Congo to the group phase of the qualifiers of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations - Morocco in Group A as replacement for Rwanda”. Details on this story in tomorrow’s issue...