FIFA on November 17, responded to the South African Football Association's(SAFA) protest on the match between Ghana and Bafana Bafana.
SAFA filed a protest letter to the world football governing body over the conduct of Senegalese referee Maguette Ndiaye, who officiated the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier on Sunday.
FIFA in a response to SAFA, noted that the matter will be submitted to its Disciplinary Committee on 23 November 2021.
They also stated that they have given the Ghana Football Association an opportunity to respond to the claims submitted by SAFA.
“We wish to inform the South African Football Association as well as the Ghana Football Association that the above-mentioned 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),” the statement read.
“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 letter further read.
However, Ghana Football Association has responded officially to the match fixing and manipulation allegations levelled against them by South Africa Football Association.
“In fact, the Ghana Football Association will not allow the SAFA to visit its incompetence on it through these allegations. Is it not strange that the Coach of the South African National Team thought that FIFA will use Head-to-Head when two teams end the group stage with the same number of points and had to be corrected by the media? The South African team actually thought Ghana needed a 2-0 margin to qualify when Ghana needed any win to qualify per the FIFA Regulations on the qualifiers.”
“The Ghana Football Association calls on the South African Football Association to responsibly accept defeat and show respect to the Black Star’s achievement on the field, for this is not the first time Ghana has defeated South Africa and this will not be the last time. In fact, every South African knows the pedigree of the Black Stars in football, a reason the team has a lot of following in South Africa. The GFA will continue to project the positive image of football and protect the integrity of the game across the globe.”
“As a good sporting Association, we know that Bafana Bafana gave it their all but lost to a better team (and must be forthright to tell the South African public this). We wish Bafana Bafana and our colleagues at SAFA better luck next time,” part of the statement read.