SAFA enlists Ace Ncobo’s services to back up SA-Ghana match manipulation claims with FIFA and CAF

The South African Football Association (SAFA) will submit an independent report compiled by a former referee and Pay-TV football refereeing analyst Ace Ncobo to back up the complaint it lodged with both FIFA and CAF on Monday.

The association lodged a complaint about biased refereeing against Bafana Bafana by Senegalese referee, Maguette N’Diaye, during its FIFA World Cup qualifier against Ghana on Sunday.

SAFA is hoping FIFA will launch an investigation into the refereeing on the day and will find in its favour and have the match replayed.

The SAFA hierarchy didn’t waste time and lodged a complaint with FIFA and CAF on Monday just a day after Bafana Bafana’s World Cup qualifier against Ghana in Cape Coast. But the association is well aware that FIFA and CAF will not just launch an investigation based on a penalty decision, which could be attributed purely to human error.

SAFA updates media on complaint lodged to FIFA and CAF following SA-Ghana match:

Both bodies will have to be convinced that there were deliberate decisions by match officials to unlawfully influence the outcome of the match before an investigation can be launched.

SAFA looked at the footage of the match before it lodged a complaint and was convinced there was a basis for that. But it has enlisted the services of former referee and respected Pay-TV football refereeing analyst Ace Ncobo to compile an independent report.

SAFA President, Danny Jordaan, says they asked Ngcobo to establish whether the referee deliberately made incorrect decisions to influence the outcome of the match.

“We asked Mr Ncobo to look, analyse and tell us whether or not there was a confirmed and deliberate bias against Bafana Bafana in order to have a particular outcome in this match,” says Danny Jordan.

Ngcobo says his report is not about the penalty decision but goes further to show that there was a pattern of decision-making by the referee to ensure Bafana Bafana don’t win the match.

“This is not about the penalty incident that led to the goal. This is about firm submission, maybe conviction, now that the report is there that the match was unlawfully manipulated,” adds Ngcobo.

Ncobo says, in line with FIFA’s statutes, once the referee is found to have deliberately and unlawfully made decisions to influence the outcome of the match, he will be sanctioned with either a five-year ban or even a lifetime ban. He says once that has happened the match result would be scrapped and the match would have to be replayed.

“The moment FIFA decides that person needs to be sanctioned because there is viable proof that they unlawfully influenced, then it has to be that the result of the match is annulled and it’s replayed. It goes without saying,” explains Ncobo.

FIFA has in the past ordered matches to be replayed after finding that the match officials deliberately took unlawful decisions, which influenced an outcome of the match like Bafana Bafana’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against Senegal. The match was replayed after a ban was imposed on the referee and Senegal won the replay to progress at the expense of Bafana, who had scored a penalty which FIFA deemed to had been an incorrect refereeing decision.

Bafana Bafana fans will be hoping the same happens so that their beloved team can have another shot at qualifying for next year’s World Cup in Qatar.

SAFA updates media on complaint lodged to FIFA and CAF: Ace Ncobo