CAS annuls CAF decision to replay Champions League final, orders the right body to take decision

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has annulled the decision of the CAF Executive Committee to have the second leg of the 2018/2019 CAF Champions League replayed insisting the appropriate arm of Africa's governing body must be allowed to make a decision.

Tunisian giants Esperance have been declared the rightful winners of the 2018/2019 CAF Champions League by after the controversial decision to have the second-leg replayed.

Last month, CAF ordered the second-leg of the final between Wydad Casablanca and Esperance to be replayed at a neutral venue after it was abandoned.

Both Wydad and Esperance approached CAS seeking a ruling in their favour and against the resolution by the executive committee of CAF to replay the match.

But CAS ruled on Wednesday that the initial decision to rule Esperance as the winners of the title must stand contrary to a subsequent decision taken by the Executive Committee of CAF.

In that abandoned final on May 31, the Wydad players refused to continue playing the match midway through after the VAR review system failed to work.

The Moroccans wanted referee Bakary Gassama to review a disallowed goal but the system did not work and prompted their players and officials to refuse to play the game.

During the match played in Tunisia, Esperance was leading 1-0 after 60 minutes and 2-1 on aggregate when the match was halted as Wydad refused to continue playing because VAR was unavailable to judge a disallowed equaliser.

The CAF President Ahmad Ahmad who attended the final spent almost 30 minutes in discussions with officials in a bid to get the game restarted.

After a 90-minute delay Esperance was declared winner of the CAF Champions League.

Wydad believed that they were the victim of VAR in the first leg of the final in Morocco last weekend, as Egyptian referee Gehad Grisha ruled out a goal by them.

Following the confusion, CAF called an Emergency Executive Committee to discuss the regulatory solutions regarding the controversial incidents that took place during the second leg of the final of the CAF Champions League 2018/2019.

CAF then ordered for a replay of the match but both sides refused insisting they must be declared winners of the game which led them to going to CAS for a decision.

CAS supported Esperance's argument that for abandoning the match, Wydad must be declared losers of the game.

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