CAF Disqualifies Dolphins From Confederation Cup For Late Arrival

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, Sports News Thursday, March 19th, 2015

By Niyi Adeyi – For failing to arrive on time for their last Saturday encounter with Tunisia’s Club, Club Africain, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has disqualified the Nigerian side, Dolphins from Confederation Cup.

Dolphins’ travail began when they missed their flight from Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital due to a row over players’ bonuses.

In a statement issued Thursday, on its website, CAF wrote that Dolphins “did not show up at Rades Stadium on Saturday, 14 March 2015 at 15:00 local time, for the kick-off of the match against Club Africain of Tunisia in the 1/16th round first leg of the Confederation Cup”.

“The referee acknowledged forfeiture of Dolphins”. The club only informed CAF on 13 March 2015 of the fact that it missed its flight between Port-Harcourt and Lagos, and could only arrive in Tunis on the day of the match without requesting for a postponement of the encounter.

“Even though the request was not made, CAF proposed to the Tunisian team to delay the kick-off of the match by 30 minutes for the sake of fair-play.

“If for any reason whatsoever, a team withdraws from the competition or does not report for a match-except in case of force majeure accepted by the Organizing Committee – or if it refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the permission of the referee, it shall be considered loser and shall be eliminated from the competition” CAF stated.

Similarly, the continental Football governing body blamed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for failing to notify the hosting team and CAF, with respect to late arrival at least two weeks to the date of the match.

The statement also indicated the action attracted a fine of $2000.

Dolphin’s Spokesperson, China Acheru responded to the development saying: “If my brain was a computer chip I would delete this week”.