20 January 2024 , 12:54
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Tanzania head coach Adel Amrouche has been hit with a suspension and sacked in the middle of the African Cup of Nations for comments he made about Morocco.
The 55-year-old recently made some unsavoury comments about the Moroccan Federation ahead of their meeting at the tournament. He believed that they held far more power than other within African football and influenced the selection of referees and kick-off times.
He said: "The Morocco federation is a proven power in the world of African football. Morocco manages African football. They also choose their referees and we remain simple spectators.
"For example, during the match between us and Morocco in the World Cup qualifiers in November we asked to play at 2pm, but CAF scheduled the match for the evening.”
Those comments look to have cost Amrouche. The Moroccan Federation has submitted a complaint to the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
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Tanzania have now announced that the CAF have decided to suspend Amrouche for eight matches after he appeared before a disciplinary committee. He has also lost the job that he has held since March 2023, with Hemed Morocco taking over as interim head coach.
Wallace Karia, president of the Tanzania football federation, spoke out on Amrouche’s comments and was keen to distance the federation from them. Speaking in a video, he said: "We as [the] TFF do not agree with his comments.
Adel Amrouche made some unsavoury comments about the Moroccan Football Federation (Getty Images)Who will win AFCON? Share your predictions in the comments below
"Those are his own personal sentiments as a coach. We are Caf members, and we know Caf follows its own procedures without influence from any country. The TFF and the Moroccan football federation are friends."
Tanzania kicked off their AFCON in the worst possible way with an eventual 3-0 defeat to Morocco. Former Wolves star Romain Saiss opened the scoring in the first-half before strikes from Azzedine Ounahi and Youssef En-Nesyri following Novatus Miroshi’s red card rounded off a rotten opening game.
Tanzania are back in action on Sunday afternoon with their clash with Zambia before rounding off their group stage against the Democratic Republic of Congo. Should they manage to win both of those games, then they would put themselves into an excellent position to qualify for the knockout rounds for the first time ever.
The following tournament ironically takes place in Morocco, while Tanzania have already automatically qualified for the 2027 edition as co-hosts.