Equatorial Guinea Football Federation Fined for AFCON Fan Riots in Ghana Match

Equatorial Guinea, the host nation at this year's Africa Cup of Nations, had a magical and unexpected run to the tournament's semifinals. Unfortunately, the journey ended under far more disappointing terms, as play had to be temporarily halted in their semifinal match against Ghana due to unruly fan behavior.

Continue for updates.

---

CAF Chair Comments on Coverage of Fan Unrest

Saturday, Feb. 7

According to a report from the BBC, Confederation of African Football chairman Issa Hayatou discussed media coverage of the incident that marred the Africa Cup of Nations semifinal between Equatorial Guinea and Ghana:

"

But Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Issa Hayatou said: "The press always dramatise, particularly the western press.

"The western media are simply here to perpetuate colonisation."

He added: "When something bad happens in Europe, they say it's an error. When something happens in Africa, they begin talking about corruption."

"

---

Equatorial Guinea Fined, Told to Pay Damages

Friday, Feb. 6

CAF has fined Equatorial Guinea for the scenes that unfolded, citing breaches of "Articles 82, 83 and 151" of the federation's disciplinary code in its official statement. Sky Sports also provided confirmation of a major fine for the AFCON's host:

Equatorial Guinea will be able to play their third place play-off in front of spectators.

"In the event of a repeat of identical incidents during the classification match on 7 February 2015, the disciplinary panel of CAF will automatically impose the sanction of playing behind closed doors the Equatorial Guinean team's next official match," reads the CAF release.

---

Fan Unrest Halts Ghana Victory over Equatorial Guinea

Thursday, Feb. 5

Bleacher Report UK passed along several images of the chaos that unfolded during Ghana's win:

The Guardian provided details and the following photo, courtesy of Reuters:

Farayi Mungazi of BBC Sport tweeted some of the objects found after the incident:

ITV Football, meanwhile, had some footage of the situation. It also shared this image of reinforcements coming dangerously close to the stadium to help calm the unrest, along with another look at the chaos:

James Whaling of the Mirror described the situation and confirmed tear gas was used by police. BBC Sport had this photo:

Shockingly, the match officials actually tried to finish the match after a long delay, though the full time remaining wasn't played in the restart, per Jonathan Wilson of The Blizzard:

Football pundit and former player Mark Bright was disgusted by the disruption:

Amidst the chaos, Ghana escaped with a comfortable 3-0 win behind goals from Jordan Ayew, Wakaso and Andre Ayew.

While Ghana will now head to the AFCON finals to face Ivory Coast in a clash of continental powers, Equatorial Guinea's tournament memories will be that of disappointment.

Despite the upcoming play-off against the Democratic Republic of Congo, it's truly a shame that Equatorial Guinea's amazing performances had to end on such a shameful note.