The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has lodged a complaint to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over the manner in which Ethiopian referee Lidia Tafesse Abebe handled Monday evening’s match between Banyana Banyana and the Copper Queens.
Banyana won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations semi-final match 1-0 through Linda Motlhalo’s penalty in added time.
“Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) wishes to inform its stakeholders and football family that it has lodged a formal complaint to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) against the officiating exhibited by Ethiopian referee Lidya Tafesse Abebe during the 2022 TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) semi-final match between Zambia and South Africa,” a FAZ statement said on Tuesday.
The complaint was addressed to CAF general-secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba from FAZ general-secretary Adrian Kashala.
“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. We call for the penalty to be cancelled, that a replay be ordered and that the referee be barred from handling any games,” the letter further said.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Banyana are going face the Moroccan Atlas Lionesses in the final at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat on Saturday evening.
The Atlas Lionesses beat the Nigerian Super Falcons 5-4 on penalties after their semi-final match handed 1-1 in 120 minutes.
