The Confederation of African Football appeals board has rejected Rwanda’s petition over their disqualification from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations final round qualifiers. Local football federation officials have been in Cairo, Egypt since Tuesday where they had gone to make a case for Rwanda after the country was banned from the ongoing qualifiers. The delegation was led by Ferwafa president Vincent Nzamwita, secretary general Olivier Mulindahabi and legal affairs head Emmanuel Ndagijimana. They returned home Friday night but with bad news. A press conference is scheduled for tomorrow at the Ferwafa headquarters in which more details will be given. Ferwafa filed an appeal against the decision by the Afcon organising committee to discontinue Amavubi from the competition on the grounds that it fielded a player with two different identities in the last round against Congo Brazzaville. The player at the centre of the controversy is Rwanda international Daddy Birori, who plays for DR Congo side AS Vita Club under the name Agiti Tady Etakiama. Congo protested against Birori’s eligibility after the player featured in the 2-0 defeat for Amavubi away on July 20, but missed the return leg in Kigali which Rwanda won on penalty shoot-outs 4-3 on August 2, and eventually eliminated the Congolese to qualify for the group stages. Caf consigned Congo to the group phase of the qualifiers of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations - Morocco in Group A as replacement for Rwanda. Other teams in the group are; Sudan, South Africa and title-holders Nigeria.
