CAF Referees Committee Officially Confirms Ndala for Champions League Final, Rejects Calls for Change

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) Referees Committee sent an official letter this Saturday morning to Mamelodi Sundowns and AS FAR, the two finalists of the CAF Champions League. The letter addressed the official stance regarding the Congolese refereeing team led by Jean-Jacques Ndala, in response to formal complaints and objections received by CAF from both clubs last week. Both teams had rejected Ndala's appointment to officiate the first leg of the final, scheduled for this coming Sunday in Pretoria.

Al-Botola.com obtained details of the official correspondence, which stated the difficulty of making changes to the Congolese refereeing team due to time constraints. The committee also expressed its confidence in its selection and the ability of the officiating crew to manage the final match without issues or controversial refereeing errors.

CAF's correspondence indicated that while it is reviewing AS FAR's complaint and the grounds for their objection, it does not see any necessity to change the refereeing team for the CAF Champions League final.

It is worth noting that in recent days, there have been objections within CAF regarding the Referees Committee's selections, particularly from some executive committee members. Some attempted to intervene to change the refereeing team, suggesting World Cup-nominated officials instead of Ndala.

However, the Referees Committee rejected these demands and officially informed Mamelodi Sundowns and AS FAR of its decision to retain the Congolese refereeing team. Jean-Jacques Ndala will lead the crew, assisted by Joëlian Bongeli as first assistant, Mwanya Gradel Mbilizi as second assistant, and Jessia Messia Nkonko as the fourth official.

The committee also assigned the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) duties to Sudanese referee Ahmed Abdel Aziz, assisted by Libyan Ahmed Al-Shalmani (VAR Assistant) and Zambian referee Diana Chikotesha (AVAR).