CAF Disqualifies Dolphins

The Inter-clubs organizing committee of the Confederation of African Football CAF have kicked Dolphins FC out of the CAF Confederation Cup.


Dolphins protested against the way they were walked over by the host team, Club Africain on Saturday, March 14, 2015 and CAF transferred the case to its Inter Clubs committee who examined all the relevant documents of the case; namely:
the referee’s report, the commissioner’s report, the email from Dolphins FC in
addition to all the exchange of communications between the different parties of the
match.

The committee considered that:
- The team of Dolphins FC failed to respect Chapter IX. article 10.2 of the
regulations stipulating that “during the matches of 1/16th final, the 1/8th &
the 2nd 1/8th finals, the federation of the visiting team is required to notify
the organizing federation and CAF with the arrival time of its team in the
capital of the host country one week before the date set for the match.
Otherwise, a fine of two thousand (2000) U.S. dollars will be imposed upon the
federation of the visiting team.”
- The team of Dolphins did not plan its arrival to the venue of the match in a
reasonable date that allows them to avoid any unforeseen situations. The
initial arrival time of the team was planned only one day before the said
match.
- The team and the federation communicated to CAF only on March 13th to
inform the parties that the delegation missed its flight from Port Harcourt to
Lagos and will arrive Tunis the day of the match, without requesting a delay or
postponement of the match.
- CAF acknowledged receipt of two email advising the late arrival time of the
team, highlighting its surprise at the lack of information given and noting that
no request for delay has been made by the Nigerian party.

- Despite no request from the Nigerian party, CAF did ask the Tunisian party in a
spirit of fair play to consider delaying the start of the match for at least 30
minutes.
- It is the full responsibility of the visiting team to take all the necessary
measures in order to arrive to the match venue on the time scheduled for the
match.
Since CAF has never received any communication from Nigeria FF or Dolphins before
the match requesting its postponement, the Committee believes that the case is not
considered as a case of force majeure, and consequently the committee decided to
apply the provisions of Chapter XI. article 17 stipulating that:
“If for any reason whatsoever, a team withdraws from the competition or does not
report for a match-except in case of force majeure accepted by the Organizing
Committee- or if it refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the
match without the permission of the referee, it shall be considered loser and shall be
eliminated from the competition. »
Therefore, the team of Dolphins is considered loser in match no.57 Club Africain vs
Dolphins and the team is eliminated from the Orange Confederation Cup 2015 without
prejudice to any other financial sanctions that may be imposed by the committee.
Please accept, dear General Secretary, our sincerest regards.

Note:

a.     Dolphins had the trip well planned to depart Nigeria on Thursday, March 12 and to arrive in Tunisia on Friday, March 13 at 1pm, 26 hours before kickoff but missed its initial flight because players refused to get on the bus as they demanded more money that was offered them for the trip. We cannot blame anyone for this.

b.     As soon as Dolphins missed the initial flight to Dubai, we wrote to the NFF asking them to request from CAF a change in the date. We specifically mentioned a change in date to the NFF and not time. Somehow, the NFF only wrote to CAF informing them of our late arrival but did not mention the fact that we wanted a change in date. No one can/ should blame us for this.

c.      Dolphins have been playing on the continent every other year since 1998 and know how to apply for visas. The Tunisia Football Federation, in an email instructed that visas will be issued at the point of entry since the chancery in Nigeria no longer does that. That is why we had our visas issued at the point of entry. No one should blame us for the delay at immigration

Below is the NFF letter to CAF that did not mention change in date of the game and attached is the letter from the Tunisian Federation that visas will be issued at point of entry.

It was a sad period for the club and we believe that we will learn our lessons from this saga and that it will not repeat itself whenever we get another opportunity to play on the continent.

The club has accepted the CAF decision and will not pursue it any further