SAFA to comply with FIFA ruling over Bafana v Senegal game

In the wake of FIFA’s decision to order a replay of Bafana Bafana’s game against Senegal, SAFA has decided to comply with the ruling and go ahead with the fixture.

The world governing body ruled that the fixture played on 12 November 2016 was unlawfully influence by referee Joseph Lamptey from Ghana and subsequently handed him a lifetime ban from the sport.

On Tuesday SAFA released the following statement on their website:

“ Following additional information SAFA received from world governing body FIFA, the Association resolved on moral and ethical grounds that we cannot be beneficiaries of corrupt activities.

Therefore, we have decided that we will comply with the FIFA directive to replay the match against Senegal at a date to be decided.

We have however, noted that the official at the centre of all this controversy has appealed his case to the courts of law and if the courts overturn the decision, everything becomes null and void and SAFA will reserve its right to challenge the decision of FIFA to replay the match.

During the SAFA Emergency Committee meeting on Monday, there were two positions on the matter – whether to go the legal route since there are lots of unanswered questions from FIFA or the ethical and moral route.

SAFA’s zero tolerance on corrupt activities within football are well documented and it is in this light that we decided to comply with the FIFA directive.”

This means that Stuart Baxter’s men are even more firmly rooted at the bottom of Group D of the world cup qualifiers with just one point from their four fixtures. They will need to win all of their three remaining fixtures and hope that one of Senegal and Burkina Faso inflict defeat on a high-flying Cape Verde side, fresh off back-to-back wins against Bafana Bafana.

Also read: How can Bafana still qualify for the 2018 World Cup?