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Morocco have been banned
from the next two African Nations Cups
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Morocco were kicked out
of the 2017 and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Friday while Equatorial Guinea were
punished for the unrest in Thursday's semi-finals in which 36 fans were
injured.
AFP reports Morocco were also fined US$1
million (€8.8m) and ordered to pay just over €8 million (US$9m) in compensation
after they refused to host this year's event due to fears over Ebola.
The Confederation of
African Football (CAF) executive committee also announced that Equatorial
Guinea, who stepped in to host the 2015 event, were being fined US$100,000
after violent scenes in their 3-0 semi-final defeat to Ghana.
- 'repeat offenders' -
Despite disturbances
blamed on Equatorial Guinea fans in Thursday's semi-final defeat to Ghana in
Malabo, supporters will still be allowed into the country's third-place playoff
against Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday.
CAF meted out the fine to
the Nations Cup hosts "for aggressive behaviour and being repeat offenders"
for crowd trouble, said a confederation statement.
An order to play
Saturday's third place playoff behind closed doors was suspended "to
promote a spirit of Fair-play and brotherhood during the AFCON 2015".
But CAF made it clear
that if there was more unrest then it would "automatically impose the
sanction of playing behind closed doors the Equatorial Guinean team's next
official match".
Saturday's playoff is
being held at the same 15,000-seater stadium in Malabo where Equatorial
Guinea's supporters pelted Ghanaian fans with plastic bottles and chairs on
Thursday night.
After a meeting of the
CAF executive committee in Malabo on Friday, the federation said in a
statement: "Morocco had based its request to postpone the tournament by a
year on 10 October 2014, on allegations 'of the highest health risk'. Morocco
cited the outbreak of the Ebola virus as a case of force majeure in justifying
its request for postponement, citing in particular the risk of contamination of
its population because of anticipated fans' flows.
"CAF raised
objections and inadmissibility of Morocco's request who were obliged to state
their position of withdrawal from the organization of the 2015 Orange Africa
Cup of Nations by 11 November 2014.
"The executive
committee considered that, contrary to what the Royal Moroccan Football
Federation cited, force majeure cannot be accepted for the benefit of the
federation."
CAF also confirmed the
punishments, which see Morocco banned from the 2017 and 2019 editions of the
African Nations Cup.
They won the competition in
1976 and were beaten finalists in 2004, but have since failed to progress
beyond the first round.
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