The Namibian Football Association (NFA) was left with egg on the face in the aftermath of its protest over the apparent ineligibility of two Senegalese players in the 2017 Afcon qualifier clash in Windhoek on Saturday. Following Namibia’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Senegalese, the NFA immediately issued a press release informing
the public that it had filed a protest questioning the eligibility of two Senegalese players, who they claimed to have produced French passports.
It has since emerged that the fingered players did not submit passports at all and the protest was filed on assumption that they were hiding their genuine nationality. The pair at the centre of the dispute were Henri Saivet and Issa Cissokho. When alerted that they would not have a leg to stand on and were advised to withdraw their protest, the red-faced association hastily issued another press release informing the public that the association would no longer
pursue the matter, since they had missed the prescribed deadline of 48 hours.
This notwithstanding the fact that the prescribed 48 hours had not lapsed as claimed by the time the NFA announced its withdrawal. This raised suspicion, and a subsequent investigation revealed that in order to avoid
embarrassment, the NFA was obliged to withdraw its protest with immediate effect.
However, a defiant NFA president Frans Mbidi insists they had a strong case and put the blame on time constraints.
“Our interpretation of the rules and subsequent legal advice were that we had a case but unfortunately by then there
was insufficient time to do all the required payment and submission of documents to CAF,” Mbidi charged.
The NFA based its protest on the regulations of the Africa Cup of Nations, Chapter 16 – Qualification of Players, Article 38, and Chapter 18 – Protests and Rights, Article 43.