September 7 – Ten months after South Africa beat Senegal in a World Cup qualifier, FIFA has taken the unusual step of ordering the match to be replayed after the official who refereed the game was banned for life.
FIFA said in March that Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey had been thrown out after finding him guilty of unlawfully influencing South Africa’s 2-1 win in African Group D in November, 2016. The life ban was this week upheld by the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
FIFA did not give further details but the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said at the time that Lamptey had wrongly awarded a penalty to the South Africans.
CAF said Lamptey had “awarded a wrong penalty for handball despite the fact that the ball never touched the hand of the player”. Thulani Hlatshwayo converted the penalty in the 42nd minute and Thulani Serero added another goal three minutes later to secure the points.
“The Bureau for the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers ordered a replay of the qualification match between South Africa and Senegal held on 12 November 2016,” a FIFA statement said. “The match will be replayed within the November 2017 international window, with the exact date to be confirmed in due course.
“As stated in the FIFA World Cup regulations, this decision shall come into effect immediately, but shall be subject to confirmation by the Organising Committee for FIFA Competitions at its next meeting, scheduled for 14 September.”
Senegal and South Africa are currently third and fourth respectively in Africa’s Group D behind Burkina Faso and Cape Verde Islands. Only the top team qualify for next year’s finals in Russia.
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