TheCable

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has denied mishandling the COVID tests taken by Burkina Faso ahead of their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) opener against Cameroon on Sunday.

Burkina Faso had on Saturday issued a formal letter of complaint to CAF after nine members of the contingent tested positive for COVID-19.

“We found serious anomalies in the sampling procedure and the late arrival time of technicians — around 10 pm — after waking our players from sleep,” the letter had read.

“We also noted the arrival in our hotel of an unauthorised team that we turned away.

“A second team arrived without presenting any official identification documentation. Nevertheless, we accepted the collection of samples out of respect for CAF despite the obvious suspicions.”

Bertrand Traore, the team’s striker, described the situation as a “scandal” and accused CAF of double standards after subjecting Burkina Faso to antigen tests on Friday evening.

“I believe this is a scandal,” Traore had said.

“We cannot be told on the eve of the match that we have COVID-19 cases among the players when some of them are our best players.

“This is unacceptable. Why did they not conduct PCR tests instead? They should have told us this beforehand. The officials and the authorities really need to rethink this organisation so that we can be sure that players won’t be told 24 hours beforehand that they can’t play.”

In a chat with TheCable on Sunday, a CAF official denied any wrongdoing on the part of the football governing body, adding that the allegation is the “opinion” of the Burkina Faso contingent.

“Burkina Faso people are saying that they don’t trust us. And call the test scandalous,” the CAF official told TheCable.

“What can we say? That is the sentiment Burkina Faso used in their press conference. It’s their opinion.”

The Black Stallions of Burkina Faso are billed to take on Cameroon in the competition opener at 5pm on Sunday.