The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has banned Morocco from the 2017 and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments for pulling out of hosting AFCON 2014 due to Ebola fears.
Morocco’s reasons for pulling out of the event was not tenable to the governing body. The North African country was also fined $1 million (€8.8m) and ordered to pay €8 million ($9m) in compensation.
An official statement from CAF reads, “The CAF executive committee considered that, contrary to what the Royal Moroccan Football Federation cited, force majeure cannot be accepted for the benefit of the federation.
“CAF decided to suspend the national team of Morocco from the next two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, 2017 and 2019,
and to impose on the federation the regulatory fine of $1 million.
“…they decided by a separate measure to be borne by the Royal
Moroccan Football Federation the sum of eight million and fifty
thousand euros in compensation for all material damage
sustained.”
Meanwhile, Equatorial Guinea, the new host of the tournament has been fined $100,000 (£65,000) for violent behaviour during their 3-0 semi-final defeat to Ghana. They’ve also been ordered to pay medical costs of injured spectators.