AFC Leopards Whyvonne Isuza vies for the ball with Simba’s Jonas Mkude during their SportPesa Super Cup match at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on January 23, 2019. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania Jan 24 – AFC Leopards’ appeal to have Simba SC eliminated from the SportPesa Cup due to the use of an unregistered player has been thrown out by the tournament’s International Match Organizing Committee (IMOC).
IMOC received documents from the Tanzanian Football Federation (TFF) confirming that the player in question, Lamin Moro is duly registered.
Leopards had lodged a protest against Ghanaian Moro who they said was not duly registered having just but arrived at the team from Zambian top tier side Buildcon. The game against AFC was his first in Simba colors.
The committee had a sitting after Ingwe the protest yesterday and have delivered the ruling here in Dar es Salaam, this afternoon.
“IMOC would like to respond and inform you that the player named Lamine Moro fron Buildcon FC (Zambia) was registered by Simba SC and approved by the Tanzania Football Federation with license No. 002821M94 issued on 15 January as per the SportPesa Cup 2019 Regulations, Section 5.5,” a decision from the IMOC, sent to AFC Leopards read.
According to the tournament rules, a player who is qualified to play in SportPesa Cup must possess a license in his club issued by its national association and registered in its federation. A national association can issue a temporary license for three (3) players to participate in this tournament.
Thus, the organizers have ruled that Moro played in the tournament rightfully and Simba have hence qualified for the semi-finals to play Bandari on Friday evening.
AFC leopards are already embarking on their journey to the airport and their flight from Dar to Nairobi is expected to leave at 4pm.
