November 17, (THEWILL) – The president of the South African Football Association (SAFA), Danny Jordaan, claims there was a clear pattern of match manipulation during the World Cup qualifier against Ghana.
This comes after SAFA filed a complaint with FIFA, the world football governing body, following their 1-0 loss to Ghana in a critical qualifier for next year’s tournament in Qatar on Sunday.
As THEWILL reported, the Black Stars advanced to Africa’s World Cup play-offs by scoring more goals than Bafana Bafana.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Jordan queried: “How is it that there’s a betting spike just before a major decision is taken and therefore people bet? They knew when to bet.”
These match-fixing claims have been denied by the Ghana Football Association, which has stated that it does not expect anything negative to come out of any FIFA inquiry.
The world body has stated that it is looking into the claims by SAFA, but has given no time frame for a decision. Alerting the two football associations of its reception of SAFA’s protest in a public statement, FIFA said:
” …the protest will be submitted to a member of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee on 23 November 2021 for consideration and decision in accordance with art. 14 (9) of the Regulations FIFA World Cup 2022TM, Preliminary Competition as well as arts. 46 and 54 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC).
“In view of the foregoing, the Ghana Football Association has the opportunity to provide the secretariat of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee with any comments it deems appropriate on the aforementioned protest, if any, by 20 November 2021 at the latest, along with any document deemed necessary.
“Finally, for the sake of clarity, please be informed that the FIFA Disciplinary Committee will decide on the protest using the file in its possession (cf. art. 20 par. 5 of the FDC,” the statement finished.
Ace Ncobo, a former South African referee, compiled the comprehensive dossier that will be used in SAFA’s FIFA case.
According to Ncobo, there were 71 critical occasions during the match where the referee either ignored or made wrong calls against the South African squad, which formed the basis of their protest.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
