Caf club finals to change to one-match contests

Cairo — Caf club finals will be reduced from two legs to one match at a neutral venue from next season, African football boss Ahmad Ahmad announced Wednesday.

“The Champions League and Confederation Cup finals will now be played as single matches,” the Caf president said on Twitter.

The first final of the Champions League, then called the African Cup of Champions Clubs, was staged as a single match in Ghana 54 years ago.

But every subsequent final of the continent’s premier club competition has been played over two legs with the aggregate score determining the winners.

However, the result of the latest final, between Esperance of Tunisia and Wydad Casablanca of Morocco, has not been decided nearly seven weeks after the second leg was played.Wydad refused to continue playing in Tunisia when their equaliser, which would have levelled the overall scores, could not be referred to VAR because the system had malfunctioned.

Caf presented the trophy and medals to Esperance only to order a replay at a neutral venue, a decision which has led both clubs to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). — AFP.