Africa Cup of Nations hosts Equatorial Guinea have been punished by the Confederation of African Football for the unruly behavior of their supporters on Thursday.
The semi-final tie in Malabo was suspended for 30 minutes after crowd violence that resulted in 36 people being injured, 14 of whom were taken to hospital for treatment, with one person’s condition declared serious.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has now taken action, with its disciplinary committee ordering Equatorial Guinea’s football federation (FEGUIFUT) to cover all of the medical costs and pay a fine of $100,000, while the national team will play their third-place play-off against DR Congo under the threat of their next home game being staged behind closed doors.
A statement posted on the official CAF website read:
Pursuant to Articles 82, 83 and 151 of the Disciplinary Code of CAF, respectively related to the principles of conduct, responsibility and safety in the organization of games, the disciplinary panel decided:
To have the Equatorial Guinean Party cover the cost of treatment of all injured persons during the match.
To impose on the Equatorial Guinean Federation a fine of US$100,000 (One Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) for aggressive behavior and being repeat offenders.
To have the team of Equatorial Guinea play their next game behind closed doors/in camera and without spectators. However, to promote a spirit of Fair-play and brotherhood during the AFCON2015, the Disciplinary Panel decided to suspend the match behind closed doors provided that spectators were not guilty of such an offense in the 3rd/4th place classification match.
In the event of a repeat of identical incidents during the classification match on 7 February 2015, the disciplinary panel of CAF will automatically impose the sanction of playing behind closed doors the Equatorial Guinean team’s next official match.