It is a 13-minute speech with the air of an indictment. During a celebratory ceremony organized by his hometown, Bambey, given following the CAN won by Senegal following a daunting final against Morocco (1-0 after extra time), and broadcast by the Senegalese media Seneweb, the president of the Senegalese Football Federation Abdoulaye Fall, gold medal winner, accused Morocco of “holding the CAF (Confederation of African Football)”.
“Morocco holds CAF, it must be said. They hold everything in hand and decide everything,” Fall declared in Wolof, according to comments relayed by Foot Mercato and the Senegalese daily Le Soleil. Fouzi Lekjaa (the president of the Moroccan Football Federation) is my friend. He was the first to invite me after my election as head of the FSF. But there are things that we never negotiate,” Fall declared.
“Moroccans control CAF”
“No country has ever opposed Morocco as much as Senegal. They (the Moroccans) control the vice-presidency of CAF. They have the means and they control CAF. Other countries are afraid of Morocco. They are afraid to take a stand against Morocco. Fouzi is my friend, we are very close but there are things that we do not negotiate,” he added, according to quotes notably reported by the Senegalese media Wiwsport. The president of the FSF developed his criticisms of the organizational conditions linked to the final on different levels.
After recognizing that Senegal had stayed “in very good conditions in Tangier”, where their base camp was located until the final, preceding the final, Abdoulaye Fall criticized the choice of the Rabat hotel where the Senegalese players were accommodated in the days preceding the final. “As soon as we saw the hotel, we knew we couldn’t stay there, because, usually, it’s our youth teams who stay there. It’s a hotel that is located in the city center, where there is noise pollution,” he said according to Foot Mercato.
“You also noticed the arrival of the Lions in Rabat. There were no security measures. What we deplored,” added the president of the FSF, repeating criticism of CAF made by Teranga Lions coach Pape Thiaw at a press conference the day before the final.
“Why do you want to impose this camp on us for a final? »
Abdoulaye Fall also criticized the choice of the training camp proposed by the Moroccan Federation to prepare for the final. “They wanted to force us to train in their own base camp, the Mohamed VI center. When we received the notification, we simply refused to go visit. I have visited this camp several times. In Senegal, there is no more modern camp than this one. The problem is that, once inside, you no longer have any secrets,” said the president of the FSF.
“Everything you work on is known by your adversaries. So, why want to impose this camp on us for a final? We categorically refused,” he added.
“We will never play in these conditions”
Fall, however, wanted to clarify that the press conference announced by the Senegalese Football Federation the day before the final was canceled after the intervention of the president of the Moroccan Football Federation Fouzi Lekjaa, who would have intervened to resolve the various problems pointed out by the Senegalese.
“At 1:30 a.m. (Editor’s note: Saturday January 17, the day before the final), Faouzi Lekjaa called me: President, what’s going on? I answered him: President, this is a precautionary measure. Tomorrow, we will have a press briefing. We will never play in these conditions. He then said to me: President, leave CAF aside. Tomorrow come see me and I’ll do what you want. He called me into his office at the Ministry of Finance. When I arrived, I told him clearly: the security conditions of the Senegal national team are unacceptable. There are things we cannot accept. Immediately, the security system was reinforced. Checkpoints were set up, even several kilometers from the hotel,” Fall said.
“We had already prepared a letter of protest”
The president of the Senegalese Federation also strongly criticized the modalities linked to arbitration before the final. “The only point on which we remained powerless was the refereeing. Two days before the final, we had to know the referee, because this must be announced in the technical commission. When we asked the question, we were told they didn’t know. However, the regulations provide for a minimum period of time to be able to challenge an arbitrator. However, we only had the information the day before the final at 10 p.m.,” Fall said.
“They made excuses like: We wanted to protect the referee to avoid pressure. But in reality, we know very well that it was to prevent any possible challenge,” accused the president of the FSF.
However, this did not prevent the Senegalese Federation from taking action: “We had already prepared a letter of protest and during the match, we sent it to CAF.”
