The Confederation of African Football have released an official statement regarding safety measures for the CAF interclub competitions second-leg quarter-finals, following the fan violence that occurred after the clash between Mamelodi Sundowns and Espérance de Tunis.
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Violent scenes erupted at Loftus Versfeld between supporters of Masandawana and the Blood and Gold after the final whistle of their respective teams’ first-leg quarter-final. A day later, Zamalek fans were involved in an altercation of their own during their Confederation Cup match against Stellenbosch FC.
This prompted African football’s governing body to hold a meeting with all 16 teams still competing in its interclub competitions ahead of their respective second-leg fixtures. CAF have since released a statement outlining what was discussed:
“Ahead of this week’s return leg Quarterfinals of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup 2024/25, the CAF Safety and Security Division met the participating Member Associations, Senior Club Officials and various stakeholders from all the 16 Clubs that will be in action this week.
“Dr Christian Emeruwa, the CAF Safety and Security Head, said the purpose of the meeting was to create an alignment, strengthen cooperation and continue to improve operational plans for the Quarterfinal stages and the upcoming rounds of CAF Interclub competitions.
“Dr Emeruwa said it was important for CAF to gather the Clubs and Senior Representatives, including Safety and Security Officers, to discuss detailed plans for the matches with the goal of enforcing safety and security measures at stadiums for fans, stakeholders and general public.
“At the meeting, CAF reiterated its commitment to creating safe stadiums for players, officials, stakeholders and supporters.
“CAF and the Clubs debriefed on recent unacceptable incidents at some of the matches where pockets of hooliganism led to incidents at the stadiums.
“Emeruwa said: ‘For CAF Interclub football to live up to the expected standards, each Club must be work hard to create an environment whereby supporters feel safe at stadium. Clubs must henceforth engage with their supporters groups to ensure they understand their role as key stakeholders in the project of repositioning football in Africa. All club managers and security stakeholders are expected to work alongside CAF security and their respective national security officers to ensure that the stadium is safe and welcoming for all across Africa.
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“‘Over the last few months, CAF has invested a lot of time and resources into creating capacity through training workshops, regular meetings and bringing international expertise for knowledge exchange to improve the level of Safety and Security at Stadiums.’”
