Ghana Football Association (GFA) General Secretary Prosper Harrison Addo has applauded FIFA for dismissing South Africa’s ‘very empty protest’.
FIFA ruled on Friday that the 2022 World Cup qualifier between Black Stars and Bafana Bafana won’t be replayed as requested by South African Football Association (SAFA).
South Africa had claimed they were “robbed” after their 1-0 defeat last month, with the only goal in the game scored from a first-half penalty.
The South Africa Football Association (Safa) included allegations of “match-fixing, match manipulation including corruption and bribery” when it lodged a complaint with football’s world governing body.
But FIFA in its ruling stated, “The protest lodged by South Africa has been declared inadmissible by the Disciplinary Committee as it did not meet the requirements foreseen under art. 46 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and art. 14 of the Regulations of the Preliminary Competition of the FIFA World Cup 2022.”
FIFA added, “the decision is subject to appeal.”
Reacting to the ruling on TV3’s Warm Up+ Sports Show on Saturday morning, Harrison Addo said, “The banter from SAFA was becoming too much.
“They were attacking our economy and all that and that was not good. You failed to qualify it’s painful we get it but don’t attack the country.”
“SAFA failed to meet the requirements. They did not give any evidence or whatsoever. They did not file the protest on time.”
“SAFA’s protest was very empty. They didn’t offer FIFA anything. They were just shouting wolf,” he added.
Minutes after the ruling, South Africa said they were considering their options, meanwhile, Ghana are focused on early next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and the World Cup play-offs in March.
The draw for the play-offs will be conducted on January 26.