Tunisia cleared to play in 2017 AFCON

The football body was threatened with expulsion from the preliminary tournament if it did not apologise by March 31 for claims of bias by officials in a chaotic end to their campaign in this year’s Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea.

The deal was reached after extensive negotiation between TFF vice president Maher Snoussi and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) led to a solution to solve the dispute between the two bodies.

TFF has also agreed to withdraw its protest at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after CAF fined them $50,000 and threatened to ban them from the next tournament if they not apologise for remarks made about officials after 2-1 quarter final loss to hosts Equatorial Guinea.

CAF said it had instructed the Tunisian federation to send them a letter of apology for insinuations of bias and lack of ethics against CAF and its officials or to present irrefutable evidence to substantiate the accusations.

Tempers ran high during the quarter final match between Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea when Mauritian referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn awarded the hosts a penalty in the dying minutes which allowed them to take the game to extra time and ultimately win 2-1.

The Tunisian players attempted to physically assault the referee after the final whistle with members of both sides clashing in ugly scenes that elicited sharp critic from different football quarters.

The referee was banned for six months by CAF for his role in the incident.

By Benjamin Wafula