Africa (CAF) - Road to WC 1998

CAF (Africa)
Gamal Al-Ghandour   Said Belqola   Lim Kee Chong   Sidi Békaye Magassa   Lucien Bouchardeau   Ian McLeod   Charles Masembe	EGY (1957) MAR (1956) MAU (1960) MLI (-) NIG (1961) RSA (1954) UGA (1953)

African refereeing broke new ground at the French World Cup, but the selection of their five-strong squad was undoubtedly the biggest mess of any confederation. 

Ian McLeod (centre) got his chance

The planned list of African referees at World Cup 1998, the released list, and finally the five referees who ultimately took charge of games in France, were all different. Three referees featured in them all. 

From Egypt, Gamal Al-Ghandour was one. Quite big things were planned for him, perhaps never before had Africa had a referee who looked quite so relaxed and at ease on the big stage. He delivered games like the Atlanta 1996 quarterfinal Spain - Argentina, one of four (!) appointments at the Olympics for him.

Which makes the treatment of Moroccan Said Belqola all-the-more interesting. Like Al-Ghandour, he was identified as a talent at the end of the 1994-cycle. His appointment under sharp focus at Le Tournoi is fascinating - was his place at the World Cup in danger, or was this a test for something bigger? 

Both Belqola and Al-Ghandour went to the AFC zone in qualification; even though it was the Moroccan who had the AFCON final months before this World Cup, it seems clear that big things were planned for them both in France. 

They also had a significant advantage in that they combined two very important political attributes - one, they were both from CAF, and no less as Sepp Blatter was in a tight election campaign for FIFA President (8/June), and secondly they were from nations who fitted into Farouk Bouzo's sense of pan-Arabism. Certainly, one could have it worse than Al-Ghandour and Belqola did! 

The only CAF referee with World Cup experience in the African squad was Lim Kee Chong from Mauritius. He had given a more than competent impression in his 1994 game, but was (bizarrely) one of only two referees rejected by FIFA after their first group stage match. 

While Edwin Picon-Ackong attending WC 1986 (and infuriating the Iraq team) shows that Mauritius was not without it's political might, I can't help but feeling Lim has good reason to be angry about how he was treated by FIFA. In any case, it is testament to him that he returned after 1994. 

Now it gets messy. 

Sidi Békaye Magassa from Mali handled Iran - Qatar in the AFC zone qualifiers and was planned to attend the World Cup finals. However, Magassa reports that he was removed having missed a red card in the AFCON 1998 match South Africa - Angola. 

The Malian association voting against him was enough for Issa Hayatou to remove WC 1986 attendee Idrissa Traoré in 1990 just before the AFCON final, and perhaps that also played a role here. Of the two men on my candidates list who missed out however, Magassa is clearly the one who is more at ease with what happened. 

Replacing him was Lucien Bouchardeau, who since the retirement of Kurt Röthlisberger, was Sepp Blatter's favourite referee. FIFA's president, at the time campaigning to succeed João Havelange, later admitted giving $25 000 to the Nigerien ref after the tournament. 

Bouchardeau handled both a semifinal and the third place playoff at the first serious Confederations Cup in 1997, Blatter and FIFA were desperate for this man to collect experience. With Magassa's removal, the Nigerien got his chance, and was selected.  

The political significance of this referee would play out after his game on the second day of competition. 

Ugandan Charles Masembe got so far as actually being on the released list before being removed. FIFA turned to this referee for the most important CAF qualifying game, South Africa - Congo, but it was his semifinal at AFCON 1998 which finally sunk him. 

This is Masembe's version of events. He was in charge of the first AFCON 1998 semifinal, South Africa - DR Congo. The game went to extra time, and kicked off four hours before the second semi. Masembe's was in game Ouagadougou, by my calculation, an hour's flight away from Bobo-Dioulasso. 

The significance of this? Issa Hayatou, CAF President, had to attend both games in his presidential role, and was said to be furious at the amount of additional time Masembe had played at the end of his semifinal. Hayatou was so furious that he personally had the referee from Uganda removed.

Masembe was out, and replaced by South African Ian McLeod. This is further interesting - South Africa already had two assistant referees appointed, and despite this, McLeod was still chosen for this World Cup; an early trio therefore (though it didn't work out like that)! 

McLeod was clearly on the cusp (Confed Cup 1997, good games at AFCON 1998) and probably the second assistant from RSA was compensation for him missing out at first. However, to be struck off like that, one can only conclude that Charles Masembe must have really annoyed somebody...

Referees:

Gamal Al-Ghandour (EGY)

Said Belqola (MAR)

Lim Kee Chong (MAU)

Lucien Bouchardeau (NIG)

Ian McLeod (RSA)

Assistant Referees:

Dramane Danté (MLI)

Mohamed Mansri (TUN)
Achmat Salie (RSA)
Aristidis Chris Soldatos (RSA)