Congolese FA apologises for TP Mazembe misconduct

DRC’s football federation (Fecofa) has apologised to Rwanda’s football governing body (Ferwafa) for TP Mazembe’s unsporting behaviour in the just ended Cecafa Kagame Cup. The Congolese giants dominated headlines for the wrong reasons when two of their players assaulted the match referee for their final group (A) tie against eventual champions APR. Trailing APR by a goal, TP Mazembe players turned violent against the Ethiopian referee when he showed their captain Tresor Mputu a straight red for insolence. The African champions were instantly disqualified from the two-week event and could even face stern penalties from the Confederation of African Football (Caf). In a letter addressed to Ferwafa, the Congolese FA president Constant Omar Selemani and Secretary General Grégoire Badi Ediba Elonga expressed their disappointment over Mazembe’s poor conduct. “We regret the unsporting behaviour exhibited by TP Mazembe during the Cecafa championship. We don’t want the incident to ruin the good cooperation that exists between the two federations,” the letter read in part. Recently, TP Mazembe chairman Moses Katumbi, who also doubles as governor of DRC’s Katanga region told the Congolese media that such behaviour is unacceptable.“It was very unfortunate and I have asked Mputu to check on his discipline,” he was quoted as saying. This was the second time the Congolese side was showing unsporting behaviour. The first time was last year in Khartoum when El-Merreikh eliminated them at a semi final stage. Ends