Zimpapers Logo

Algerian side ES Setif has been disqualified from the ongoing Caf Champions League group stages following crowd trouble in their fixture against Mamelodi Sundowns at Stade 8 Mai 1945 today.

Tiyani Mabunda and Billiat Khama found the back of the net in the 33rd and 63rd minutes in that order to give Masandawana a historic lead in Algeria.

Seeing as ES Setif was on the verge of losing to the South African side, the home fans ran onto the pitch in the 90th minute but order was restored after 10 minutes as Abdelkader Amrani’s side accepted their fate.

Caf in a statement yesterday said, “Following the regrettable incidents that took place during match No. 98 of the 2016 edition of Caf Champions League between ES Setif (Algeria) vs Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa), whereby the referee was obliged to abandon the said match before its end.”

“Match officials noted especially the pitch invasion as well as numerous throws of missiles, stones, bottles and firecrackers, provoking a certain number of injured spectators and members of the security forces.”

The Caf Organising Committee for inter-clubs competitions decided to apply the provisions of Chapter XII paragraph 3 and considered ES Setif the loser and therefore eliminated from the competition without prejudice to any other sanctions that may be imposed by the Caf Disciplinary Board.

Chapter XII paragraph 3 stipulates, “If the referee is forced to stop the match before the end of regular time because of invasion of the field or aggression against the visiting team, the host team shall be considered loser and shall be eliminated from the competition, without prejudice to the sanctions existing in the regulations.”

According to the Caf rules and regulations, if a team withdraws after the start of the group matches without having played half of the group matches, the overall results of the matches in which this team participated is cancelled.

Mamelodi host Nigerian side Enyimba on June 29 with the latter looking to register their first win after losing 1-0 to Zamalek of Egypt 1-0 in Port Harcourt over the weekend. — supersport.com