Eq. Guinea bans fans from 3rd place play-off in Malabo

The football federation of Equatorial Guinea has banned its fans from attending Saturday’s play-off game against the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Malabo stadium due to the shameful behaviour of its fans during the semi-final game against Ghana.

Equatorial Guinea fans threw rocks, bottles, and other missiles at Ghanaian supporters, players, and officials, causing the semi-final to be stopped for over 30 minutes in the second half with Ghana leading 3-0 and the home team on its way out.

Some Ghana fans suffered minor injuries in the stadium from being hit by objects, while there were reports that local fans attacked the Ghanaians again when they were leaving the stadium.

Riot police fired tear gas at the angry home crowd, and evacuated Ghana's fans to protect them as a helicopter hovered low over the stands at Malabo Stadium, trying to restore order.

Football pundits around the world have described Thursday's scenes as highly embarrassing for Africa's top soccer tournament, local organizers, and CAF, all of which were under scrutiny after the tournament's last-minute change of host country.

Ghana players also had to be shielded by riot police when they left the field at halftime as missiles rained down on them.

CAF had already fined Equatorial Guinea's federation $5,000 and warned it to control its fans after crowd trouble in its quarterfinal, a contentious 2-1 win over Tunisia at Bata.

The vice president of the Equatorial Guinea Football Federation, Pedro Ondo Abeku in an interview apologised for the fans’ unruly behaviour adding that no Equato-Guinean would be allowed entry into the Malabo stadium for the third place play-off.

CAF met early Friday and would announce disciplinary decisions and give details of injuries from the crowd trouble in a statement Friday afternoon.