By Kimathi Kamau
NAIROBI, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Wednesday replaced Equatorial Guinea to attend the 2018 CAF Africa Women's Cup of Nations (AWCON), following the expulsion of Equatorial Guinea by CAF from the competition for fielding an ineligible player in the final round of qualifying.
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) announced that the Kenyan team known as Harambee Starlets will take its place at the Nov. 17 to Dec. 1 finals in Ghana following their successful appeal against Equatoguineans who beat the Kenyans 3-2 on aggregate in June.
"A sanction of 10, 0000 U.S. dollars is imposed on the Equatorial Guinea FA; and Equatorial Guinea's team is disqualified from the total African Women's Cup of Nations 2018," a letter from CAF addressed to FKF chief executive, Robert Muthomi partly read.
FKF submitted an official protest against Equatorial Guinea who beat Kenya 2-0 on June 9 in the second leg of their final qualifier.
In their initial letter, Kenya was protesting the eligibility of 6 players. However, at last they only maintained their protest regarding one player: Anette Jacky Messomo.
CAF said the player in question was allegedly of Cameroonian nationality and had played for several European based clubs.
Following the decision, Kenya will make their second appearance at the finals following their debut in the 2016 edition where they failed to progress past the first hurdle.
Two-time African champions Equatorial Guinea (2008 and 2012) were banned by world governing body FIFA from the 2019 World Cup in France over similar charges.
