CAF Suspend Egyptian Referee Gehad Grisha For Six Months

CAF have decided to suspend Egyptian referee Gehad Grisha for six months following his poor refereeing decisions in the Champions League final.

The Egyptian referee took charge of the first leg of the CAF Champions League final between Wydad Casablanca and Espérance de Tunis, which ended in a 1-1 draw in Morocco.

Fousseny Coulibaly put the visitors into a 44th-minute lead before they gave it up after Cheick Ibrahim Comara’s late equaliser in the 79th minute.

In a game full of incessant fouling and bickering, Egyptian referee Gehad Grisha was forced to dish out four yellow cards in just the opening 45 minutes.

The 43-year-old referee also went to the VAR twice, the first time to rule out a goal for the hosts due to a handball in the build-up to the goal, before not awarding Wydad a penalty in the 57th minute after consulting the VAR.

A red card was also shown to Wydad’s midfielder Brahim Nakach after picking up two yellow cards in only five minutes.

This led the Moroccan giants to lodge a complaint to CAF against the Egyptian referee because of his poor decision making, highlighting his actions in the two VAR incidents.

And two days later, the CAF have announced that Grisha, who officiated in the 2018 World Cup, has been suspended for sixth months.

A statement on the CAF’s website read: “Following the first-leg of the the Total Champions League final match played of the 24th May 2019 between Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco) and Esperance de Tunis (Tunisia), the referees committee of the the Confederation Africain de Football has decided to suspend Mr. Gehad Grisha for a period of six (06) months due to poor performance.”