Confederation of African Football (CAF) officials have been showered with praise for their decision to replay the second leg of the African Champions League final.
The original fixture was abandoned and the match awarded to Esperance of Tunisia when Wydad Casablanca left the pitch following a disputed decision.
The CAF’s executive committee met in Paris on the fringes of the Fifa congress and decided on Wednesday to restage the match at a neutral ground in a decision that could spark an immediate legal challenge.
Wydad Casablanca walked out of the field after their 59th-minute effort was disallowed with the claim that the VAR had issues and could not work efficiently.
This seems to be the situation:
– Wydad score a legitimate goal that is called OFFSIDE.
– Replays show the player was onside but theres no attempt to see VAR by referee Gassama
-Wydad refuse to continue without checking VAR replays.#CAFCL #CAFCLfinal pic.twitter.com/sGixo8KrvO— Ahmed Osman (@ahmz_osman) May 31, 2019
The VAR system was not working and after a delay of almost two hours the match was awarded to the home side Esperance, who were handed the trophy and winners’ medals.
The first leg in Casablanca on 25 May ended 1-1 and Esperance were 1-0 up in the return a week later when Wydad thought they had equalised, only for the referee to signal for offside.
That sparked protests that continued for around 90 minutes before the game was eventually called off in scenes that bordered on the farcical, with even the Caf president, Ahmad Ahmad, coming down to the side of the pitch to try and resolve the matter without success.
After the CAF’s Wednesday decision, joy came back to football fans as they stormed social media to praise the officials for such an excellent decision.
Décisions du Comité Exécutif de la CAF 5 juin 2019 pic.twitter.com/eLHirDma0T
— CAF (FR) (@caf_online_FR) June 5, 2019
😂😂🇲🇦 pic.twitter.com/c6e6yaZQxW
— Anass Benamar (@AnassBenM) June 5, 2019
Any replay would have to be staged after the Africa Cup of Nations finals, which are being hosted in Egypt from 21 June to 19 July.