Refereeing: Amafci responds to dissidents

The Ivorian referees' association (Amafci) has moved to respond to dissidents who plan to hold an elective general assembly at the end of May 2023 to renew the body's governing structures. In a letter made public on 5 May 2023 by president Danon Roland Léonce, it condemns the high-handed way the rebels are going about it and asks all the men in black to stay calm.

"The Executive Board of the Association of Football Referees of Côte d'Ivoire (AMAF-CI), headed by its President Roland Léonce DANON, wishes to inform referees, the sporting public, the press, the federal authority and public opinion that it cannot in any way be the author of the letter, which is poorly structured in both form and substance, is circulating on referees' platforms and refers to an ordinary elective general assembly on Saturday 27 May 2023 in Yamoussoukro. Consequently, the Executive Board of AMAF-CI asks all referees to remain composed and calm in the face of this breach of trust, which once again seeks to discredit their Association and divide the profession", Danon wrote at the outset. He also issued a stern warning to the troublemakers.

"Amafci asks Mr Diomandé Abdoul Karim and those who mandated him to stop using the name and logo of AMAF-CI with immediate effect, failing which they will answer for their actions before the competent national and even international bodies", he concluded.

Sanh Séverin