February 5 – The referee who awarded the controversial last-gasp penalty decision that helped hosts Equatorial Guinea reach the African Nations Cup semi-finals at the expense of Tunisia has been banned for six months.
Rajindraparsad Seechurn of Mauritius has also been removed from the list of top African officials, effectively ending his international career.
Seechurn awarded the highly questionable spotkick in the 93rd minute of the quarter-final prompting a furious reaction from the Tunisia players and a claim by the country’s Belgian coach Georges Leekens that he had “never seen anything like it” in 45 years in the game.
The confederation of African football said Seechurn’s performance included an “unacceptable failure to maintain calm and ensure proper control of the players during the match”.
Tunisia, for their part, have been fined $50,000 by CAF who have also ordered an apology for allegations of bias.
According to Caf, it was sent two letters by the Tunisian FA following the match, with the second suggesting that Caf and its officials “were questionable and biased against Tunisia in general”.
Tunisia face being thrown out of the 2017 competition if they don’t provide “irrefutable evidence to substantiate the accusations” or send an apology.