Supercup of Mauritania

Match shortened due to President's schedule

The football match of the Supercup of Mauritania between the league champion, FC Tevragh Zeina, and the cup champion, ASC Ksar, was shortened with thirty minutes remaining and resolved by penalties in order to accommodate the President's agenda, Mohamed uld Abdel Aziz.

This was acknowledged today in a statement by the President of the Mauritanian Football Federation, Ahmed uld Yahya: "We reached an agreement with the presidents and coaches of the two clubs, who were tied 1-1 in the 60th minute, and both teams agreed to stop the match and proceed to penalties."

The federation executive does not see this as an "abuse of power," but rather justifies it as "the interest of players and officials from both clubs to be honored by the President in person."

President Aziz had a busy schedule that same day (Saturday night) due to the celebration of the country's 55th independence anniversary, and the football match was just one of many events he had to attend in the city of Nouadhibou, in the north of the country.

The federation executive added that the match had started with a slight delay and that the stadium lacked artificial lighting, so minutes had to be cut to be able to present the trophy in natural light.

Finally, he downplayed the incident because it did not constitute a violation of sporting codes, as it was "not an official match from a legal standpoint." FC Tevragh Zeina ended up winning the Supercup after winning in the penalty shootout. (EFE)