The Football Association of Zambia has lodged a formal complaint to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) following a controversial penalty awarded to South Africa in the WAFCON 2022 semi-final clash on Monday.

The penalty incident happened in the added time when the match was seemingly heading for extra-time. Zambia’s Martha Tembo was adjudged to have fouled Jermaine Seoposenwe inside the box after a VAR review.

FAZ also feels that Ethiopian referee Lidya Tafesse Abebe made several other decisions that affected the match’s outcome.

The FA’s secretary general Adrian Kashala has written to CAF demanding a semi-final replay.

“We therefore wish to contest against the decision of the referee to award such a penalty resulting in a goal which decided against our team progressing to the finals as we call for a serious review of the game,” reads part of the FAZ appeal.

“We call for the penalty to be cancelled, that a replay be ordered and that the referee be barred from handling any games.”

Kashala added: “We have further noted with great concern the poor officiating that characterised the tournament, specifically our games.

“We recorded similar incidents of poor match officiating by referees who have gone scot-free, among them referee Bouchra Karboubi who has continued to handle games at the tournament as if nothing happened.”- Soccer 24 Zimbabwe