Nigerian goalkeeper banned 1 year for spitting at official

CAIRO — A Nigerian goalkeeper was banned for a year for spitting at an assistant referee and clubs were handed fines totaling $85,000 in disciplinary decisions announced by the Confederation of African Football on Tuesday.

Goalkeeper Tejiri Rhiogbere was given the 12-month ban from all African competitions following CAF’s disciplinary committee meeting on Sunday. CAF said it would also forward Rhiogbere’s case to FIFA to possibly make his ban worldwide.

The spitting incident happened in Nigerian club Warri Wolves’ 1-0 win at FC MK of Congo in their African Confederation Cup tie on May 1, when Rhiogbere was also sent off.

In other decisions, Mali’s Onze Createurs was fined the largest amount, $20,000, for its fans throwing missiles onto the field in a Confederation Cup game against Ivory Coast’s ASEC Mimosas. The game had to be stopped and police intervened to disperse the crowd, CAF said.

Angola’s Petro Atletico was fined $10,000 after its fans threw missiles at its own team at a 1-0 home loss to Swaziland’s Royal Leopards, which eliminated Petro from the Confederation Cup. Police also had to escort the match officials to the dressing rooms.

Clubs in Africa’s top Champions League competition were also punished for crowd trouble and not controlling officials.

Defending African champion ES Setif of Algeria and Raja Casablanca of Morocco were both banned from holding CAF games in their stadiums for four matches and fined $5,000 after their bad-tempered two-leg tie in the Champions League, which Setif ultimately won on penalties after both games ended 2-2.

Setif’s club president was guilty of insulting members of the Raja delegation, and Raja’s president guilty of contesting refereeing decisions.

Dozens of flares were also thrown onto the field in Raja’s home tie on April 19, CAF said, leading to a warning that another incident would mean Raja would have to play two games without any fans.

In the most bizarre case, goalkeeper Brou Bernard of Ivory Coast’s beach soccer team was banned for four games and fined $5,000 for throwing sand at the officials after losing to Madagascar on penalties in the semifinals of the African championship last month.