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Join on Telegram Head coach Walid Regragui will face a four-match suspension following his heated exchange with DR Congo captain Chancel Mbemba last Sunday.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will ban the Moroccan coach for four matches, including a suspended penalty of a two-match ban.
CAF has not released a press release on the suspension yet, but Morocco’s Football Federation (FRFM) announced that it will appeal the action.
In a statement today, the FRMF described the suspension as “unjust.”
“The Royal Moroccan Football Federation has decided to appeal the decision, considering it to be unjust,” the statement said. ”The facts have shown that Mr. Walid Regragui did not engage in any behavior that goes against the spirit of sportsmanship.”
The CAF suspension came after a heated exchange involving Regragui and Mbemba during Sunday’s game.
The exchange ensued when the Atlas Lions’ head coach approached the Congolese captain to shake hands with him following the game.
Regragui told the French sports outlet L’Equipe that the player had been avoiding eye contactas if he did not want to shake hands with the Moroccan coach.
“I held his hand, and he started screaming as is evident in pictures and the widely circulated videos,” Regragui said, strongly denying claims that he made racist comments in his altercation with the Congolese player.
“I really didn’t like these dishonest claims. Since he only talks about religion in his statement to the press, let him be a little honest with himself,” Regragui stressed.
The coach’s remarks came after Mbemba told the press on Sunday that he would not get into details of his allegations of racist abuse from Regragui, claiming that it was “better… to keep (the) silence” in the wake of such a controversy.
“Everybody knows me, I respect everyone…but I never thought I’d hear that word from the coach, that it would come from his mouth,” Mbemba said.
He further claimed to have videos other than the widely circulated one that better document his heated exchange with Regragui.
On Tuesday, Regragui re-addressed the situation, saying that he has been receiving death threats and that the accusations targeting him have been affecting his family.
The coach also stressed his determination to continue defending the image that he has built over many years.
According to Foot Mercato, a popular Spanish football outlet, players from the DR Congo squad also refuted rumors of “racist remarks” insisting that the exchange was nothing more than a “simple post-match altercation.”
