FIFA to probe Ghana, Bafana Bafana penalty saga

World football governing body FIFA has confirmed receiving SAFA’s complaint and says it will look into the Ghana vs Bafana Bafana penalty incident.

Ghana edged South Africa 1-0 on Sunday to top Group G and send Bafana out of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Andre Ayew converted the penalty which was controversially awarded by Senegalese referee Ndiaye Maguette, prompting Safa to report the incident to FIFA and contest the result.

The world football governing body said it will probe the referee’s decision.

“FIFA has received a complaint from the South African FA in relation to this matter and will review it. Please understand we cannot comment further at this stage.” Fifa said in a statement to The Athletic.

If FIFA’s probe unearths proof of match-fixing, the Group G final match between Ghana and South Africa could be replayed, while Maguette will be sanctioned.

But if the referee is found guilty of incompetence, he will be punished but the result will stand.

There is already precedence after FIFA ordered a replay of the Bafana-Senegal 2018 World Cup qualifier.

Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey had been found guilty of unlawfully influencing Bafana’s 2-1 win over the Teranga Lions through the awarding of a penalty.

SAFA president Danny Jordaan added his voice to the latest incident, saying they are “angry” and they suspect manipulation of the defeat by Ghana.

“We are very angry, we are very upset. We will fight this matter until the end. That’s why immediately after the match we informed the match commissioners that we are challenging this outcome,” Jordaan told Thabiso Mosia on SAFMSportOn.

“We feel that this match was manipulated which carries a sanction of five years. What we have done today is that we’ve made a detailed analysis of the match. We have found that 89 per cent of the wrong decisions were made against Bafana Bafana. It can’t be right.”