Caf hands Birori two-year ban

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has handed a two-year ban to Dady Birori, also known as Etekiama Agiti Tady, for using two different names while playing for Amavubi and his Congolese club AS Vita.

Thursday, September 18, 2014
Dady Birori beats Libya captain to the ball during the first round return leg qualifiers at Kigali Regional Stadium in which he scored a hat-trick. (T. Kisambira)

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has handed a two-year ban to Dady Birori, also known as Etekiama Agiti Tady, for using two different names while playing for Amavubi and his Congolese club AS Vita. 

The suspension was confirmed at Caf’s meeting on September 17 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.In a decision of August 17, at which time Rwanda was disqualified from the Africa Cup of Nations 2015, the player was suspended until further notice.

According to Caf, the Organising Committee of the Africa Cup of Nations had earlier ruled that it reserved the right to confirm the duration of the player’s suspension at its next session. 

"The Committee decided to suspend the player Etekiama Agiti Tady for two years. The player, holder of a Congolese passport, and plays for the AS Vita Club of Kinshasa and was included in national selection of Rwanda under the name of Dady Siméon Birori with a different birth date,” says a Caf statement.

The ruling means that Birori will not play domestic or international football for club and country for the next two years. 

Last month, Caf suspended the former Mukura, Atraco and Kiyovu SC player until further notice and disqualified Rwanda from the 2015 Africa Cup Nations qualifiers. 

The ruling followed a protest made by the Republic of Congo Football Federation, who reported that the striker plays for AS Vita Club using his DR Congo passport and under the name Etekiama Agiti Tady. 

Birori featured in the first leg of the second round qualifier between the nations in August in Pointe-Noir, which the home side won 2-0. 

Rwanda went on to overturn the deficit in the return leg in Kigali, winning the tie 5-3 on penalty shootouts to reach the group stage, but instead the beaten side progressed to Group A of qualifying for the next year’s finals in Morocco. 

Although Rwanda had maintained that the player had one identity (Dady Birori), they lost the appeal against their disqualification. 

Caf ruled that "the Rwandan federation was aware of this double identity but proceeded to feature the player for the national team while he held a different identity with his club.”