Guinea lose appeal over eligibility of Sudanese player at CHAN

by Phumzile Ngcatshe

Sunday Jan 21, 2018. 10:00

Following their dismissal of coach Kanfory Bangoura at the ongoing 2018 African Nations Championship, Guinea have now also lost an appeal lodged against the eligibility of a Sudanese player at the tournament.

Although they are yet to finish their Group A assignments, Guinea cannot reach the last eight from the group after defeats against Sudan and Morocco.

They protested to CAF that Elsmani Elsawi Saadeldin, who signed for Libyan club Al Ittihad Tripoli on December 31, was not eligible to play against them.

Although tournament regulations say Sudanese players must be registered with clubs in Sudan, CAF has dismissed the appeal.

"After investigations, Caf has established that there was no administrative error by the SFA with respect to the player's registration," said CAF in a statement.

"As at kick-off of Sudan-Guinea on 14 January, the registration of Elsamani on the Fifa Transfer Management System as a player of Al Ittihad Tripoli was not finalised and the International Transfer Certificate was yet to be issued.

"Meanwhile, for the next game of Sudan, against Mauritania on January 17, the player was not involved and his name was indicated absent on the match sheet."

Furthermore, FEGUIFOOT has announced that assistant coach Ibrahim Sory Toure will take over for the final Group A game against Mauritania on January 21.