“Why does the VAR work everywhere but Tunisia?” CAF President Ahmad Ahmad asked.
Rabat – The President of the Confederation of the African Football (CAF) Ahmad Ahmad said that the president of Esperance Tunis threatened him “in front of witnesses.”
Ahmad Ahmad’s statement comes after a backlash against poor referee performance during the Wydad Casablanca-Esperance Tunis second leg final of the African Champions League on Friday, May 31.
In a statement to sports news outlet Stad’Afric, Ahmad condemned the absence of the video assistant referee (VAR) in the game. “VAR works everywhere but not in Tunis?” he said.
He added that “major presidents of [football] clubs accuse the practices of this club, but we have no evidence.”
During the game a referee rejected an equalizer for Wydad Casablanca, suggesting that it was offside. When Wydad Casablanca put pressure on the referees, asking them to check the legitimacy of the goal through VAR, the referees claimed that the technology was unavailable due to technical issues.
Ahmed’s remarks followed several other statements, where the CAF president backed Wydad Casablanca. In previous statements, CAF has acknowledged that Wydad Casablanca’s goal during the second leg of the African Champions League final against Esperance Tunis was legitimate.
“If somebody did not see WAC’s goal as legitimate, he then should change his hobby and to stop watching football,” he added.
The scandal and criticism over the VAR and referees lead CAF to hold an emergency executive committee meeting on June 4 convened by Ahmed to “discuss regulatory issues” following the EST-WAC game.
The president of Wydad Casablanca, Said Naciri, and the president of the Royal Football Federation (FRMF), Fouzi Lekjaa will attend the meeting.
