by crossriverwatch admin
The appeal by Congolese football officials that their September 6 match against the Super Eagles be relocated from Nigeria owing to fears concerning the outbreak of the dreaded Ebola Virus has been turned down by the Africa football ruling body, CAF.
CAF in statement on its official website said it has not changed or made amendments to the pre-announced schedule of fixtures for match days one and two of the final group phase of qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2015.
The African soccer ruling body explained that Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia remained the only countries required to relocate their fixtures to neutral territories as a result of the Ebola outbreak as stated in a circular to member countries on August 12.
CAF went on to say that the fixtures for CAF U-20 and U-17 Championships qualifiers as well as inter-club competitions fixtures in the Orange CAF Champions League and Orange Confederations Cup all remained as scheduled and unchanged.
Reigning African champions, Nigeria will be playing their first game in the qualifying series at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar.
CAF also made similar decision of clearing Nigeria when Lesotho U-20 team asked that their final round qualifier for the AYC 2015 be moved to a ‘safer’ country.
The South African country chose to forfeit a fighting chance to make it to the youth tournament by honoring the game against Nigeria’s Flying Eagles team in Kaduna as Lesotho football officials ruled that they will not risk the health of their country just to play in a tournament.
Whether the Red Devils of Congo will tow the same line is yet to be seen.
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