The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Wednesday overruled an African Football Confederation decision to replay the abandoned Champions League final between Tunisia’s Esperance and Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca.
It followed Wydad’s decision to leave the pitch after an equaliser they scored was disallowed. Wydad wanted the video assistant referee to check if the goal should stand but the system was not working, with Esperance declared champions.
The Sport’s highest court has ruled that the executive committee of CAF “did not have jurisdiction” to order that the game be replayed.
CAS said it is now up to “competent CAF authorities”, without giving further details, to “order the appropriate disciplinary sanctions, if any, and accordingly to decide whether the second leg shall be replayed or not”.
However the 1-1 draw from the first leg in Morocco stands.
The full statement from the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 31 July 2019 read;
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued its (partial) decision in the appeal arbitration procedures filed by Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco) and Espérance Sportive de Tunis (Tunisia) concerning the decision issued by the Executive Committee of the African Football Confederation (CAF) on 5 June 2019 in which they were ordered to replay the second leg of the CAF Champions League Final 2018/2019 on neutral ground.
“The CAS Panel in charge of this matter has considered that the CAF Executive Committee did not have jurisdiction to order that the second leg of the final be replayed and has decided to annul the decision challenged. The appeals of both clubs are therefore partially upheld for that reason.
“It is now for the competent CAF authorities to review the incidents which occurred in the Radès stadium on 31 May 2019, to order the appropriate disciplinary sanctions, if any, and accordingly to decide whether the second leg of the CAF Champions League Final 2018/2019 shall be replayed or not.
“The CAS Panel having annulled the decision of the CAF Executive Committee for formal reasons, it has decided to refer to the competent CAF bodies the questions of the replay of the final’s second leg and of the disciplinary procedure, which is currently pending before the CAF and which does not fall within the CAS jurisdiction in the present arbitration procedure.”
