May 02, (THEWILL) – Due to crowd trouble during last month’s 2022 World Cup play-offs, FIFA has slammed African champions, Senegal, with the penalty of playing one match behind closed doors.
THEWILL recalls that fans also flashed laser pointers at Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, as he stood in front of the ball to take a penalty in the second leg in Dakar, which Senegal won.
Senegal was fined 175,000 Swiss francs (about $180,000) for the earlier-mentioned pitch invasion, an insulting banner, and failing “to ensure that law and order are maintained in the stadium”, among other things.
After reviewing hundreds of cases from World Cup qualifying games played at the beginning of the year, FIFA issued a slew of fines around the world.
Apart from Nigeria, which received a one-game stadium closure and a fine of 150,000 Swiss francs for a similar pitch invasion by fans in Abuja after their play-off defeat by Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lebanon both received similar punishments after disturbances at games against Morocco and Syria, respectively.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
