Frenchman Hubert Velud, the newly appointed coach of the Comoros national team, hesitated for a long time before answering. “Today, the image of African football is destroyed. I fear there may soon be nothing left of it.” The decision by the Confรฉdรฉration Africaine de Football (CAF) appeals jury to strip Senegal of the African championship title on Tuesday, March 17, and award it to Morocco โ two months after the chaotic AFCON final in Rabat โ sparked an unbroken wave of outrage and ridicule, extending far beyond the continent. The CAF’s board decided that Senegal “is declared to have forfeited the final match,” therefore handing a 3-0 win over to Morocco.
“Our beautiful Africa has once again surprised the whole world,” said the captain of a team that participated in the last AFCON, ironically and anonymously. From TV studios to social media, journalists, observers, fans, athletes and politicians tried to measure the shockwave from this unprecedented decision in football’s history.
All asked the same anxious question: How much more discredited could African football become? “I thought I had seen everything,” confided Velud, who “narrowly escaped death” on January 8, 2010, two days before the start of AFCON in Angola.
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