CAF Fines Pierre-Aubameyang For Social Media Outburst

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has slapped Gabon’s national team captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with a $10,000 for breach of its regulations.

Aubameyang was accused of using social media to highlight his team’ plight at a Banjul Airport where the players were forced to spend the night of the floor ahead of a 2021 Africa Cup of Nations against The Gambia.

The Gabon delegation was told they were not allowed to leave the airport because of an administrative problem before being allowed to leave in the morning after government intervention.

The 2015 Africa Player of The Year was fined for posting the pictures of the incident in his social media pages where he also placed a caption reading:  “Nice job CAF, it’s as if we were back in the 1990s.

“This will not demotivate us but people need to know and CAF need to take responsibility. (It is) 2020 and we want Africa to grow but this is not how we will get there.”

CAF’s disciplinary committee said the content was offensive and degrading and at the same time fined The Gambia $100,000, half of which was suspended for 24 months.

“The CAF  Disciplinary Board decided to impose a fine of 10,000 USD for breach of the values of sportsmanship and integrity on the Gabonese Football Federation for the regrettable behaviour of the player,”  the ruling stated.

“The Gambian federation did not comply to the loyalty, integrity and sportsmanship values and rules of Fair Play concerning the reception of the Gabonese Delegation,” the CAF statement added.

“The Disciplinary Board decided to impose upon the Gambian federation a fine of 100,000 USD (One Hundred Thousand US Dollars) of which 50,000 USD (Fifty Thousand US Dollars) are suspended on the condition that the federation is not found guilty of a similar offense within a period of twenty-four (24) months.”

The forward and his teammates suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of The Gambia in a 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Group D Qualifier that was played at the Independence Stadium Bakau.

Aubameyang is captain of both the Gabonese national team and English Premier League giants Arsenal.