19 October – The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ordered CAF to postpone AS Douanes’ Confederations Cup second preliminary round tie against CR Belouizdad while it considers a challenge by Guinea’s Hafia FC over the circumstances of Douanes’ qualification.
The first leg between the Mauritanian team and Belouizdad had been scheduled for October 17, with the return leg between October 23 and 25. Now the CAS has ruled that neither party can be held before November 6.
The dispute dates back to the first preliminary round, where AS Douanes was due to travel from Nouakchott to Conakry for the second leg of the qualifier against Hafia on September 11, but the plane carrying the delegation was unable to take off.
The CAF Competitions Division treated the incident as force majeure and rescheduled the match for the following weekend. Hafia contested this decision, arguing that Douanes’ failure to arrive was the result of an organizational problem rather than circumstances beyond the club’s control.
The Guinean club lodged an appeal with CAF’s Appeals Board on September 16, but the rescheduled match was brought forward three days later before a decision had been issued.
Douanes won 1-0 in Conakry to advance to the next round.
With the CAF appeal still pending, Hafia took the case to the CAS on October 8 and requested both an expedited procedure and interim measures to prevent the competition from continuing while its challenge remained pending.
A single CAS arbitrator granted this request in part.
CAF must postpone both matches of the Douanes-Belouizdad tie and ensure they are not played before November 6, buying CAS time to determine whether CAF had the right to reschedule the original Hafia match.
The ruling does not reinstate Hafia or invalidate Customs’ rating, with the CAS stressing that the interim order is only intended to protect the integrity of the competition while the underlying dispute is resolved.
This leaves CR Belouizdad caught up in a case he was not initially a party to, with his spot in the second preliminary round effectively frozen until the court process catches up.
CAF will have to rearrange the two matches once the CAS has ruled on the merits, while ensuring the tie is completed before the Confederations Cup group stage begins.
The immediate issue for CAS is whether an aircraft on the ground constituted force majeure.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at (email protected)
