Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) has dismissed South Africa’s appeal to replay the World Cup round-robin qualifier between Bafana Bafana and Ghana, which they lost 1-0 in a controversial manner.
South Africa had written a complaint about the refereeing in decisive match where Ghana reached the African World Cup play-offs courtesy of their win through a controversial penalty award.
The news on the appeal dismissal was confirmed by Ghana Football Association (GFA) on Friday, several days after the case was heard by FIFA November 23.
“A decision signed by Carlos Sneider, Director of the FIFA judicial Bodies indicates that the protest lodged is ‘inadmissible’ as it did not meet the basic requirements for filling protests,” reads part of GFA press release.
“Per the ruling, the Black Stars remain qualified for the playoff stage of Africa’s 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.”
Ghana’s Daniel Amartey went down in the Bafana Bafana box after what appeared to be minimal contact from defender Rushine de Reuck. Senegalese Referee Maguette Ndiaye awarded a penalty and Andre Ayew scored to send Black Stars through.
Ghana’s narrow win allowed them to edge South Africa on the “goals scored” count after both teams finished on the same points tally from six games.
South Africa Football Association CEO Tebogo Motlanthe on Thursday hinted that they would move to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) should they not be satisfied with the outcome of their appeal.
“I think as South Africans, the mistake we have made is that everyone thought the decision would be announced on November 23,” Motlanthe told Sowetan Live an anxious nation waits for Fifa’s answers.
“Remember, they said they were going to listen to the matter on the 23rd. Fifa didn’t say they were going to give a decision on that day, so let’s just give them their time to do their work.
“There are a lot of things they are dealing with. If they don’t give you a good reason, you can still go and challenge the matter with CAS. So they’d rather do their work and we give them the space.”
