The appeal lodged by Algeria against the refereeing of the 2022 World Cup qualifying play-off match against Cameroon has been rejected by FIFA.
FIFA considers the case closed. After winning the first leg 1-0 in Cameroon, the Algerian national team the Fennecs was eliminated 2-1 on 29 March in the return match at home by a goal scored in the last second of extra time by Karl-Toko Ekambi.
On 31 March, the Algerian Soccer Federation FAF had announced that it had lodged an appeal with FIFA and asked for the match to be replayed because of the disgraceful refereeing by Gambian Bakary Gassama.
The FIFA referees’ committee rejected the request, according to a letter made public on Saturday by the Algerian federation.
”We regret that, according to your assessment, the referees’ decisions may have negatively influenced the course of the match. (…) All the incidents that occurred during the match were carefully examined by the two video referees, in accordance with the laws of the game and the video-assisted refereeing protocol,” the committee wrote.
FIFA confirmed that the FAF had referred the matter to its disciplinary committee and had requested an analysis from its refereeing committee.
FIFA has responded to the FAF on these two issues and considers the case closed, a FIFA spokesman reported to the media.
The Algerian coach Djamel Belmadi has repeatedly criticised the refereeing of this match in particular and African refereeing in general.
In Algeria, the elimination of the national team was experienced as a national drama. Fans demonstrated several times in front of the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.
JDC TV, Video news 
