By James Robert Kayindi
With less than a week left to the kick-off of the 2015 Africa Nations Cup qualifiers, Rwanda has been confirmed out of the campaign. The development follows the loss of their appeal in the case of Daddy Biroli/Tady Etekiama who is believed to be having two indentures.
The credible information was revealed on the Confederation of African Football (CAF) official website in a statement released on Sunday (31st August). Following the publication of the notice, Congo has since then been confirmed to have progressed to the group stages of the 2015 Orange AFCON qualifiers.
Rwanda’s disqualification from the campaign follows the use of Daddy Biroli whose is said to be having two indentures with the other identifying him as Tady Etekiama at DR Congo club AS Vita. Daddy Biroli/Tady Etekiama was fielded in Rwanda’s 2-0 loss to Cong in their first leg of the final pre-group qualifier. However earlier secretive investigations revealed that the player Dady Birori, who played with the Rwanda national team was the same player that participated in the Champions League with Congolese club AS Vita using the name Etekiama Agiti Tady.
Rwanda’s disqualification from 2015 Orange AFCON qualifiers by CAF is a decision Ferwafa took to be so harsh and unrealistic therefore chose to appeal the ruling claiming that they are not responsible for player’s change of identity. However, CAF insisted with the decision despite the appeal as it pin-pointed that Ferwafa had prior knowledge about the player’s dual identity before fielding him.
“Based on the documents on record, it was evident that the Rwandan federation was aware of this double identity but proceeded to feature the player for the national team while he held a different identity with the club,” CAF reported.
“This decision was taken following the Appeals Board hearing of 27 August, 2014 in Cairo, Egypt which upheld the decision of August 17 of the Organising Committee of the Africa Cup of Nations which disqualified Rwanda based on Article 41 of the AFCON regulations,” reads part of the statement on CAFOnline.com.
“The regulation states that any team that has committed fraud on the identity of a player for qualification and/or involved a suspended player will lose the match and shall be eliminated from the competition by decision of the organizing committee who would decide on such matters with facts clearly established”, the Appeals Board stated in their ruling.
Congo will now compete with Group A mates of Nigeria, South Africa and Sudan in the final bend of the Orange AFCON Morocco 2015 following the qualification CAF ruling.
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