Rwanda-Morocco friendly unaffected by Ebola concerns

AmavubiI’s friendly with Morocco, due tomorrow in the North African country, will go on as earlier planned despite the latter’s decision to withdraw from hosting January’s finals over Ebola fears. On Tuesday, the Confederation of African football (CAF) suspended Morocco from the competition saying that the latter’s concerns were unfounded. Amavubi left for Morocco yesterday afternoon and Ferwafa Chief Executive Officer Olivier Mulindahabi said authorities in Rabat never expressed any concerns with regard to the friendly. “They have not taken any extra precaution as regards the friendly. I think the team will only be screened at the airport,” Mulindahabi added, refusing to comment on the decision taken by CAF to ban Morocco from the 2015 Afcon finals for refusing to host the continental tournament. Both Rwanda and Morocco have not recorded any Ebola case, with the virus mainly affecting the West African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan and Ghana have since ruled themselves out as possible new hosts of the tournament and, by press time, there had not been any response from champions Nigeria. The finals were due January 17-February 9. CAF executive committee confirmed that qualification matches for the tournament will continue as planned on November 14-15 to decide which 15 teams will join that of the new host country for the finals. The current Ebola outbreak, the worst in history, has since killed about 5,000 people. African football first felt the impact of fears of the deadly virus in August when Seychelles forfeited a qualifying tie rather than host a return match against Sierra Leone. As the death toll mounted, CAF barred Sierra Leone and Guinea from hosting their qualifying group games. Apart from banning Morocco from participating in Africa’s most prestigious competition, CAF said in a statement that the Moroccan Football Federation could face further sanctions, including financial.

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Rwanda-Morocco friendly unaffected by Ebola concerns