Johannesburg - The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has reviewed the Champions League match between Zimbabwes Motor Action and Asec Abidjan because of the political instability in Ivory Coast.
As a result, the match will only be played over one leg in Zimbabwe this weekend, giving the Zimbabwean champions a major boost. The return match that was scheduled for Abidjan in a fortnight has been canceled.
Following the political situation in Cote dIvoire and in line with Article 5 paragraph 15 of the regulations, we hereby confirm that only one decisive match will be played in Zimbabwe for the Motor Action Asec Mimosas encounter on 18, 19 or 20 March 2011, CAF said in a statement to The Zimbabwean from Cairo, Egypt. Ivory Coast is engulfed by political instability, emanating from Laurent Gbagbo failing to give up power despite his defeat in a presidential election last November.
He has not heeded calls the international community to do so.
Meanwhile, two other matches were reviewed due to the current political situations in the countries of the concerned clubs.
The games involve J.C.A. Treichville (Cote dIvoire) against Ittihad (Libya), and the Orange CAF Confederation Cup match between USFA (Burkina Faso) and Africa Sport (Cote dIvoire).
For the J.C.A Treichville vs. Ittihad game, in view of the actual situation in Cote dIvoire and Libya and in conformity with Article 12 of the regulations, the match will take place on a neutral ground on 1, 2 or 3 April 2011. The Libya Football Federation and the Ivorian Football Federation are requested to reach a mutual agreement on the neutral ground by March 21 at midday at the latest on the proposed country. CAF reserve all rights to decide the venue of the match after receiving the proposals, said CAF.
Also, in line with Article 5 paragraph 15 of the regulations, only one decisive match will be played in Burkina Faso for the USFA Africa Sport game on 1, 2, or 3 April 2011.
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