The Royal Moroccan Football Federation will table a request to replay CAF Champions League return leg final during an emergency meeting of CAF’s Executive Committee on Tuesday in Cairo, Egypt, according to the body’s president Fouzi Lekjaa.
After a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Morocco, the return leg was played on Friday in Tunisia between Esperance Tunis and Wydad Casablanca, and abandoned by the hour mark when Wydad players walked off the pitch and refused to return in protest of the referee’s decision not to use the VAR to review their disallowed goal which could have cancelled out Esperance’s 42nd minute opener.
The Gambian referee Bakari Gassama said the VAR was faulty.
Esperance were eventually declared winners and Africa’s new champions but the crisis continued after the game as Morocco’s FA complained to CAF and threatened to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and FIFA.
Officials from Wydad and Morocco’s FA will attend the CAF Executive Committee emergency meeting but Esperance were not invited.
In a statement published on Monday, Esperance requested to be allowed to attend the meeting like Wydad, but CAF declined.
Speaking to pan-African channel Stad’Afric on Monday, CAF president Ahmad Ahmad said he received threats from Esperance president Hamdi Meddeb, ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
Also, Ahmad said he was surprised that it was only in Tunisia that the VAR failed to work.
It remains unclear if the return leg final would be cancelled but it is likely to be one of the options up for debate at the meeting.
