Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) arbitrator Raymond Hack has slammed the South African Football Association (SAFA) for their response to the three-point deduction for fielding the ineligible Teboho Mokoena against Lesotho.
Bafana Bafana were knocked off the top of Group C of Africa’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers as a result of their 2-0 win over Lesotho on March 21 being overturned on Monday. Lesotho were awarded a 3-0 victory by forfeit – a decision which SAFA said they would appeal.
“I have never, ever heard of a situation where the appeal board overturned a decision of the Disciplinary [Committee] in regard to an ineligible player… It was an illegal situation. You cannot benefit. That’s the law in any situation,” Hack, currently a chair of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) Disciplinary Committee, told ESPN.
Hack – in addition to his CAS role – was previously SAFA CEO from 2006-2010 and served FIFA in various roles. Most recently, his term as chairman of the Players Status Committee ended in 2021. He was a member of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee from 2008-2016.
There was widespread speculation in the aftermath of the incident regarding whether or not Lesotho’s failure to protest immediately might lead to Bafana Bafana avoiding a points deduction on a technicality. However, Hack poured cold water on any suggestion that this could aid SAFA’s appeal.
“If you did something wrong, you can’t reap the benefits… It’s as simple as that – otherwise, there’s no equity in sport. [Imagine saying]: ‘I took a drug, but I wasn’t caught. Therefore, it’s ok.’ You cannot do that,” he said.
“It certainly won’t drag out. It will be quick. Personally – it’s only my opinion – I doubt it will even be heard on the basis of [the FIFA Appeal Committee deciding]: ‘We’re going to overturn it.’ You can’t overturn an illegal situation.”
Hack claimed that SAFA’s argument that the sanction was handed out by “a single-member panel without reasons, and without affording the Association an opportunity to present legal arguments” was without merit.
“FIFA are entitled to appoint whoever they want. They have a panel of people who sit on the disciplinary committee. The chairperson is entitled to make a judgement on his own. I’ve done that numerous times while I was on the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and it’s up to them to determine,” Hack said.
Hack said that SAFA’s statement gave a misleading account of the appeals process, as it makes no mention of the fact that they only have three days to file their initial notice of intent to appeal – albeit with a subsequent window of a week in which to submit full written reasons for it.
SAFA said: “The Association confirms that we have requested written reasons for the judgment and intend to lodge a formal appeal with the FIFA Appeals Committee within the prescribed 10-day period under FIFA’s disciplinary rules.”
FIFA said in their statement that SAFA “have ten days in which to request a motivated decision, which, if requested, would subsequently be published on legal.fifa.com.”
In Hack’s opinion, SAFA have no grounds to claim that FIFA should have given further written justification of the sanction against them in advance of this window. Furthermore, even so – when the reasons do come out, he believes there is unlikely to be anything which vindicates the association’s defiance.
Bafana Bafana previously topped Group C with 17 points, but now fall to second place behind Benin on goal difference, with the teams locked on 14 points.
Nigeria and Rwanda (both on 11 points) will fancy their chances of capitalising on the fallout.
South Africa will conclude their World Cup qualifying campaign with fixtures against Zimbabwe in Durban on October 10 and Rwanda in Mbombela on October 14. Benin will play Rwanda in Kigali on October 10 and Nigeria in Uyo on October 14.
The winner of the group will automatically advance to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada. Meanwhile, the four best runners-up across nine African qualifying groups will advance to a knockout tournament to determine the sole CAF representative at the inter-confederation playoffs.