CAF bans Gabon and Djibouti in CHAN qualifiers

Thursday Nov 16, 2017. 17:00

The Confederation of African Football has banned Gabon and Djibouti from participating in the qualifiers for the 2020 CAF African Nations Championship.

CAF's decision comes after both nations withdrew from the 2018 qualifying campaign despite starting the qualifying campaign - the move was announced in a CAF meeting in Morocco.

This year's edition will be staged in Morocco and the announcement was made ahead of the draw for the tournament on November 17.

"Any association declaring forfeit after the start of the matches is liable to a fine of US$10,000. It will also not be allowed to participate in the next edition of the CHAN," reads a statement from CAF.

Gabon was scheduled to face Equatorial Guinea in August, but withdrew just a few days prior to the game and that has irked the football governing body.

On the other hand, in July Djibouti played the first leg of their qualifier against Ethiopia before they chose not to travel for the second leg.

That led to CAF imposing a further sanction of US$10,000 on the Djibouti Football Federation which they must pay as compensation to their Ethiopian counterparts.