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Algerian club Setif kicked out of African Champions League
Lema Mabidi (C) of Democratic Republic of the Congo's AS Vita Club fights for the ball with Akram Djahnit (L) and Sofiene Younes of Algeria's Entente Sportive de Setif during their African Champions League final soccer match at Mustapha Tchaker stadium in Blida, November 1, 2014. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Louafi Larbi
24/06/2016
CAIRO (Reuters) - Algerian club Entente Setif have been kicked out of the African Champions League after fan violence caused their opening game of the group phase to be abandoned last weekend.
The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) announced the unprecedented measure in response to the violent scenes at the end of Setif's 2-0 home loss to Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa on Saturday.
Objects were thrown onto the field while some fans invaded the pitch in stoppage time.
CAF said in a statement that the referee had abandoned the match due to the pitch invasion and after spectators and security personnel had been injured by "missiles, stones, bottles, and firecrackers".
Under competition rules, any match halted because of violence leads to the disqualification of the home team.
The result of the match was wiped out and the group has now been left with three teams -- Sundowns, Enyimba of Nigeria and Egypt’s Zamalek. The top two advance to September’s semi-finals.
The decision marks the first time a club has been expelled from the Champions League since the group format was introduced to Africa’s top club competition in 1997.
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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