The decision to suspend and throw out the Ethiopia U17 team that was taking part in this years CECAFA U17 tournament has caused a storm with the Ethiopia FA and football stakeholders terming the decision unfair .
According to Ethiopia FA,the rule Cecafa is using is that of the 2019 AFCON U17 that is yet to take place in Tanzania instead of the one currently taking place in Burundi
The document used by CECAFA to lock Ethiopia out
‘They have banned 3 of our players based on the 2019 document,The players were born on 2001 and are 16 years .Why do they say they have passed the age limit and in what scale is a 16 year old not eligible to play in Under 17 competition” A source from Ethiopia told soka25east.
According to CECAFA both Zanzibar and Ethiopia breached the tournament Rules and Regulations on age limit as stipulated in Article. 4.0 (Qualification of players), sub sections 4.3 and 4.6 of the Cecafa regulations.
The Cecafa Organizing Committee that convened on Sunday evening at Ruhuka Hotel in Ngozi Province and chaired by Chairperson of the Women and U17 standing committee Doris Petra unanimously agreed to expel the two teams from the competition. Zanzibar were also fined Sh1.5m.
Ethiopia forfeited their win over Somalia on a 0-3 loss basis in addition to a Sh500,00 fine.
The question is how did the Doris Petra led committee come up with the final decision? Was there a misjudgment ?
soka25east is yet to get what the Ethiopian FA will do following the expulsion .
