CAF president Patrice Motsepe has called for more sportsmanship in African football, and promised to take action against federations or clubs who don’t respect their opponents.
A week ago, Libya’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Nigeria was cancelled after the Super Eagles found themselves stranded at an airport on arrival to the North African country.
The incident led to accusations of poor sportsmanship against the Libyans, who later said the same thing had happened to them when they visited Nigeria a few days earlier.
Speaking at the CAF 46th Ordinary General Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the continental body’s president Motsepe urged countries to treat each other with respect ahead of international games, and that action will be taken against those who do not.
“I have heard too many stories of a football club or national team going to a country. You spend hours at the airport, and they ask you about documents,” said Motsepe, as quoted by FARPost.
“Apparently, during COVID, they would look at who the best players are from your team and say those 10 players have COVID-19.
“You tell them that you have just been tested, and they say no, you have COVID. But it’s this lack of sportsmanship that has existed, and we haven’t taken effective action. If there are violations of those regulations and rules, we will take action.”
“So I just want to repeat, we are proud of those nations that treat visiting teams and football clubs with the respect and dignity that they deserve. But also who treat them in the same way that they want to be treated when they visit those clubs. We are reviewing those laws, and we want to emphasise sportsmanship,” he continued.
“When there was a problem with the Nigerian national team in Libya. I will not comment on that because there is a proper investigation. But I want to emphasise a principle that we will not tolerate because this is something that has been going on for some time.
“Let me emphasize, forget about the Nigeria and Libya situation because that process of being properly investigated and appropriate action will be taken.”
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