Senegal Kicked Out of Africa Nations Cup After Crowd Trouble

Senegal was thrown out of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations following crowd trouble that caused its home qualifying match to be abandoned last weekend, the Confederation of African Football said on its website.

The crowd threw stones, bottles, firecrackers and other objects onto the field in Dakar, and tear gas was used, promoting the referee to halt the Oct. 13 match against Ivory Coast after 74 minutes.

The CAF disciplinary board met yesterday in Cairo and awarded Ivory Coast a 2-0 victory, according to competition rules. Ivory Coast advances by a 6-2 score over the two-match series.

“If the referee is forced to stop the match before the end of the regular time because of invasion of the field or aggression against the visiting team, the host team shall be considered loser and shall be eliminated from the competition, without prejudice to the sanctions existing in the regulations,” the rule states, according to CAF.

The Ivory Coast, which featured Manchester City players Yaya Toure and Kolo Toure, was winning 2-0 on goals from former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba when the match was halted. Senegal’s team included Newcastle’s Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse.

The Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa begins Jan. 19, with the final scheduled Feb. 10 in Johannesburg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Bensch in London at bbensch@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net.