Janny Sikazwe was previously suspended back in 2018
The referee who controversially stopped the Africa Cup of Nations fixture between Tunisia and Mali on Tuesday 10 seconds early was previously suspended by the CAF due to allegations of corruption.
Janny Sikazwe of Zambia made headlines on Tuesday after he stopped the Group F fixtures with 89 minutes and 44 seconds on the clock, despite a number of stoppages throughout the game which included also blowing for full-time in the 85th minute.
Mali were winning 1-0 at the time, leading to outrage from the Tunisia camp that the final few minutes of the game were not played out.
Tunisia coach Mondher Kebaier furiously approaches the referee, after he blew up early for FT twice pic.twitter.com/cCNcE0IUtn
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) January 12, 2022
It had originally looked like the controversy would end there, however CAF officials stormed the press conference of the Mali manager to demand that play be restarted and the final three minutes of the game be played out.
Mali coach Mohamed Magassouba's press conference has just been interrupted
CAF officials barged in and are saying that the match will be re-started to play out the final three minutes
The coach is beside himself
— Maher Mezahi (@MezahiMaher) January 12, 2022
Despite their protests, Mali reluctantly accepted, but the Tunisian team were nowhere to be seen and refused to come back out on the pitch, with the fourth referee then deciding to award the win to Mali.
However it has emerged that the referee in charge has previously had history with the CAF and was suspended by the governing body back in 2018 after allegations of corruption.
As reported by Goal back in 2018, Sikazwe was suspended due to the manner in which he handled a CAF Champions League match between Espérance Sportive de Tunis of Tunisia and Primiero Agosto of Angola.
“The chairman of the CAF Disciplinary Board decides that there is good ground to hold a hearing regarding allegations of corruption made against Mr Janny Sikazwe,” read the ruling by the CAF Disciplinary Board.
“Mr Janny Sikazwe is provisionally suspended from all football activities related to Caf pending a hearing before Caf Disciplinary Board.”
A suspension was handed down in November 2018 but lifted by FIFA in January 2019.
As of yet, it hasn’t been confirmed if Tunisia will lodge an appeal against the result. Should they choose to, it could mean that the game would be rescheduled.
Related links:
- CAF officials storm Mali press conference to demand restart to Tunisia game
- Chaos at AFCON as ref blows early for full-time TWICE in Tunisia vs Mali
- Tunisia vs Mali could be resumed after early FT whistle as CAF discussions underway
