Ferwafa files CAF appeal today

Rwanda Football Federation (Ferwafa) will today file their appeal against the decision by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to disqualify Amavubi from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations-Morocco qualifiers. Ferwafa’s executive committee and their lawyers held a crisis meeting on Monday and resolved to petition the decision of the 2015 Afcon organising committee to throw Rwanda out of the qualifiers on the grounds that they fielded an ineligible player in the second round first leg qualifier against Congo on July 20. The appeal to the Caf appeals board, must be submitted by midnight today– 48 hours after Sunday’s decision. Congo lodged a protest over the eligibility of Amavubi striker Birori Dady, who plays for DR Congo side AS Vita Club under a different passport, as Etekiama Agiti Tady, and a different age. CAF say their investigations found that the DR Congo-born striker was born December 12, 1986 as it is indicated in his Rwandan passport, while his Congolese passport indicates that he was born on December 13, 1990. According to Ferwafa secretary general Olivier Mulindahabi, the appeal is, among others, based on the fact that the player got his Rwandan passport in 2009, while his Congolese passport was issued in 2013. “Before he was issued with a Rwandan passport in 2009, he didn’t have any document to show he was Congolese, so as far as we are concerned he is Rwandan,” Mulindahabi told Times Sport after yesterday’s meeting. He added: “Birori played for a number of clubs here (in Rwanda) before he joined AS Vita Club and, in all those clubs, he was using the same name (Birori); therefore, if CAF took a decision based on the passports the player holds, then we have a strong case for defence.” The official added that Congo’s protest letter to CAF ignores the Rwandan clubs that Birori played for before going to Congo. In Rwanda, the striker featured for Kibuye FC in the second division, Mukura Victory Sports, Atraco FC and Kiyovu Sports Club between 2004 and 2011. Birori played a key role in Rwanda’s progression to the group stage of the 2015 Afcon qualifiers, and was hat-trick hero when Rwanda beat Libya 3-0 in Kigali, effectively firing Amavubi to the next round where they played Congo. In the second qualifying round against Congo, he played in the 2-0 away defeat but missed the return leg in Kigali when the Amavubi turned tables and booked a place in the final qualifying stage after winning 4-3 in shootouts having scored twice in regulation time to level matters 2-2 in aggregate. The impressive run had earned Rwanda a spot in Group A for the final qualifying round alongside champions Nigeria, South Africa and Sudan.