Rabat - Mauritanain President entered history over the weekend for becoming the first head of state to attend a match and order the referee to end it before time.
Rabat – Mauritanain President entered history over the weekend for becoming the first head of state to attend a match and order the referee to end it before time.
According to media reports, the Mauritanian president was attending the Super Cup final between FC Tevragh-Zeina and ACS Ksar over the weekend when all of a sudden he ordered the referee to end the match at the 63rd minute and go to penalty shootout.
The reason behind this atypical behavior? According to the Gazzeta World, Oueld Abdel Aziz was not enjoying the football match.
“A football game in the Mauritanian Super Cup was bizarrely sent to a penalty shoot-out in the 63rd minute of play after the country’s head of state grew tired with the match,”
According to the same source, the Mauritanian head of state grew bored with the pace of the game, which was tied at 1-1. Instead of waiting until the end of regulation time and maybe extra-time, he just ordered the referee to end the match and send the two teams to penalty shootouts.
“Upon being given the instructions, the referee brought the match to an abrupt halt, much to the bemusement of the players and fans, before immediately sending the game to be decided on spot kicks,” the same source said.
The astonishing decision caused uproar among Mauritanian fans who called on the country’s football federation to provide explanation on the reasons that pushed the referee to end the match before time.
The head of the Mauritanian football federation issued a statement in which he denied the intervention of the President in the match, arguing that the decision was made in coordination with the consent of the coaches of the two teams.
“I deny in the strongest terms the intervention of the President of the Republic. The decision was made due ??to organizational issues in accordance with the presidents and the coaches of the two teams.”
