NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - The Kenyan soccer federation says it will appeal a decision to allow Equatorial Guinea back into the women’s African Cup of Nations in a long-running saga over a player’s eligibility.
Equatorial Guinea was thrown out of the tournament in Ghana, which starts next weekend, because the Confederation of African Football ruled Cameroon-born midfielder Annette Jacky Messomo wasn’t eligible to play for the country. Kenya, which lost to Equatorial Guinea in qualifying, took its place.
But CAF reversed its decision on Tuesday after an appeal by Equatorial Guinea.
The Kenyan federation says it is “profoundly astonished” by CAF’s move to reinstate Equatorial Guinea 10 days before the African championship and has initiated an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Equatorial Guinea has a long history of ineligible players and was banned from next year’s women’s World Cup by FIFA after 10 members of its squad who played in qualifying for the 2016 Olympics were not eligible.
The Equatorial Guinea men’s team has also come under scrutiny for containing a large amount of Spanish-born players.
Equatorial Guinea is a small but oil-rich nation of 1.2 million people on the west coast of Africa.
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