BFA Escapes CAF's Wrath
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Monday May 18, 2020 09:59
The two teams were scheduled to face-off in the second leg of the World Cup qualifiers in Morocco on March 14.
BFA cancelled the team’s trip to the North African country because of fears over the Coronavirus pandemic, which at the time was beginning to set its foot in the African continent. At the time, Morocco had already registered two confirmed cases of the virus.
Botswana on the other had not registered any case until the beginning of last month when all the sporting activities had been cancelled worldwide. The local girls had lost 1-0 in the first leg played at the National Stadium on March 1 courtesy of Morocco’s Salma Tammar. There were fears that the association would receive a stiff penalty over the decision to cancel the trip without CAF’s approval at the time. But such fears have since been allayed.
According to a letter written to the BFA by the continental mother body, the match will be rescheduled. CAF administration had submitted Botswana’s case to the organising committee of Women’s football that decided by unanimity the matter as a force majeure (circumstances beyond control). That was due to the fact that the match did not take place since the government of Botswana had suspended travels of all citizens as a safety measure against the Coronavirus. A date for the match has not been determined as countries across the continent are still trying to deal with the spread of the virus.