Adel Amrouche, Tanzania’s coach, has been banned for eight matches for making disrespectful remarks about Morocco, a Confederation of African Football (CAF) spokesman told AFP on Friday.
“I can confirm that the coach of Tanzania (Adel Amrouche) has been suspended for eight matches after comments he made about Moroccan officials in a TV interview,” said the official.
The Algeria-born coach will miss the remainder of the Africa Cup of Nations campaign in Ivory Coast due to his suspension by the CAF disciplinary committee.
Tanzania, a Group F outsider, lost 3-0 to Morocco on Wednesday and will play Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in their remaining mini-league matches.
“The Moroccan football federation is a well-established powerhouse in Africa. Morocco manages African football,” Amrouche stated in an Algerian television interview prior to the Cup of Nations.
He alleged that Moroccan officials within CAF pick who refs senior men’s national team matches and what time they start.
“We wanted to play a World Cup qualifier against Morocco last November in the afternoon, but CAF scheduled the match for the evening,” Amrouche said.
The coach anticipated that an afternoon kick-off in the scorching heat of Dar es Salaam would benefit Tanzania because many of the Moroccan players would be traveling from teams in normally cool Europe.
Before joining Tanzania last year, the 55-year-old had coached Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Kenya, Libya, and Botswana, as well as clubs in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Algeria.