FAZ announced on Sunday that they had written to CAF regarding Zambia’s U-17 exit from the Africa Cup of Nations.
Despite recording their first victory in the competition, the Young Chipolopolo were eliminated from the tournament in the group stage.
Zambia defeated Morocco 2-1 in their final Group B match on Saturday night, but it was not enough to keep them in the competition despite being level on three points with South Africa.
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They started their campaign with a 1-0 loss to Nigeria and lost their second match to South Africa 3-2 to finish bottom of the group based on head-to-head rule.
However, due to South Sudan’s disqualification, CAF introduced a new rule for determining the third-best teams.
The new rule stated that results against countries that finished fourth in groups A and B would not be considered when determining the third best. South Africa’s victory over Zambia was thus rendered null and void.
CAF stated in a memo dated April 29, 2023, that the rule for determining the first and second in the group remained the same. This meant head-to-head was used as a tiebreaker between Zambia and South Africa in Group B.
FAZ, however, claims not to have understood the new rule. The Association’s acting General Secretary Iva Lengwe told ZNBC that they are inquiring about how CAF arrived at a decision to eliminate Zambia from the competition.
Lengwe said FAZ will decide whether to appeal or not depending on CAF’s response.
Why CAF will throw out the complaint by FAZ
Bolanews understands that FAZ’s complaint will be thrown out. With the competition’s quarterfinal fixtures already set, Zambia’s complaint is being deemed baseless.
This is due to the fact that CAF believes the rules of the competition were clear from the onset.
Meanwhile, South Africa confirmed their qualification for the quarterfinals as the third-best-placed team. This came after Burkina Faso’s 2-1 come-back victory over Cameroon on Sunday night.
Amajimbos joined Senegal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Congo, Morocco, and hosts Algeria in the quarterfinals.
The last four teams at the tournament will automatically book their ticket for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
