FAZ has lodged a complaint to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) against the officiating exhibited by Ethiopian referee Lidya Tafesse Abebe during the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) semi-final clash against South Africa.
Abebe awarded South Africa a dubious 90th minute penalty as Zambia lost the match in Casablanca.
FAZ general secretary Adrian Kashala in a complaint letter dated 18th July 2022 addressed to CAF General Secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba, advanced six incidents including the late minute penalty awarded to South Africa.
“We therefore wish to contest against the decision of the referee to award such a penalty resulting in a goal which decided against our team progressing to the finals as we call for a serious review of the game,” read part of the FAZ appeal.
“We call for the penalty to be cancelled, that a replay be ordered and that the referee be barred from handling any games.”
According to FAZ spokesperson Sydney Mungala, Kashala said Football House opted to file a complaint as Zambia suffered similar injustices in their quarterfinal victory over Senegal.
“We have further noted with great concern the poor officiating that characterised the tournament, specifically our games. We recorded similar incidents of poor match officiating by referees who have gone scot-free among them referee Bouchra Karboubi who has continued to handle games at the tournament as if nothing happened,” he said.
