The Chadian national football team have been disqualified from the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers following its government interference in running the nation’s football.
With just two matches left to round off qualification for the continent’s biggest showpiece in Cameroon, the Confederation of African Football announced the development on Monday, March 22.
Earlier this month, the Chadian government, through the ministry of Youth and Sports disbanded the nation’s football federation over concerns on how it was managing football.
In the wake of the country’s decision, Caf accused the state of micromanaging football affairs in the West African country, which led to their disqualification.
In a statement by CAF, Les Sao will now not play their fixtures against Namibia and Mali that were lined up for this week.
Their two opponents will be handed a walkover of 3-0 scorelines as per CAF guidelines on disqualification of countries.
“Following the withdrawal of the FTF’s approval by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Chad, Caf has decided to disqualify the Chad national team from the qualifiers for the Total Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021,” Caf said in a statement.
“Consequently, scheduled qualifier matches between Namibia (match 106) and Mali (match 130) for Total Afcon 2021 are canceled. In line with Article 61 read together with Article 64 of the Caf Regulations, Chad is considered a loser of both matches against Namibia and Mali,” the statement added.
Notwithstanding, Chad’s qualification hopes had been dashed, having only registered a draw in the last four games they’ve played to sit at the base of their group, which features Mali, Guinea (qualified) and Namibia.
Recall that the Chadian Football Federation was fined 20,000 US Dollars and also barred from participating in 2019 AFCON tournament in Egypt after they pulled out of the 2017 qualifiers due to financial restraints.
