The Confederation of African Football have condemned the crowd trouble around the CAF Champions League home games of Raja Casablanca and ES Tunis this weekend.
A fan, a 29-year-old woman, died in a crush ahead of Raja’s home clash with Al Ahly as thousands of fans tried to get into the ground, according to Reuters.
The incident was confirmed by the Moroccan giants, who lost 2-0 to the Egyptian giants on aggregate.
“Aziz El Badrawy, president of Al-Raja Club Athletic, in his name and on behalf of all members of the club, extends his deepest condolences to the family of the fan, Noura, who passed away before our team’s match against Al-Ahly,” the Moroccan club said in a statement.
But there were more ugly scenes in ES Tunis’ home quarter-final against JS Kabylie when home fans clashed with Tunisian security authorities and lid up several fires on the stands, while shocking video footage showed one fan walking around with a chain-saw.
CAF have “strongly condemned” the horrible incidents and confirmed investigations will take place.
“CAF has strongly condemned unruly behaviour by a section of supporters during two TotalEnergies CAF Champions League fixtures in Tunisia and Morocco on Saturday night: Esperance Sportive de Tunis vs JS Kabylie and Raja AC and Al-Ahly in Casablanca,” a statement read.
“CAF General Secretary, Veron Mosengo-Omba said the matter will be handed to the competent bodies to investigate and take appropriate action after the match had to be disrupted for several minutes after some supporters threw objects on the field.
Mosengo-Omba stated: “The scenes in Tunis and Casablanca were unacceptable and we cannot tolerate this in football,. We condemn unruly actions by some supporters in the strongest terms. CAF will hand over the matter to our judicial structures for further investigation.”
Despite the shocking scenes and tragic news, the CAF General Secretary insisted that the action on the pitch across the four quarter-finals was an “advertisement for African football”.
“The Quarter-Finals of the TotalEnergies Champions League have been an amazing spectacle and advertisement for African football,” he added.
“We have seen some thrilling encounters that have once again re-affirmed the attractiveness of the African interclub competitions.”
