Difficult landing for Zebu after CAN 2019

Quarter finalist at the last continental tournament, the team knows a complicated autumn because the premiums due to the players and the technical staff have not been paid.

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Near Ivato Airport in Antananarivo on July 13, 2019, supporters are preparing to host the national football team returning from the African Cup of Nations. RIJASOLO / AFP

For the second FIFA date of the season, Madagascar will not play a friendly match. Already inactive in September, for purely sporting reasons, the island selection will be again in October. But the reasons are different. The Malagasy internationals are particularly against their federation (FMF), which has not paid the bonuses related to the team's course in Egypt where, for his first participation in the finals of the CAN, Madagascar had reached the quarters of final against Tunisia (0-3). And they had passed the following message to the federation: "We will not play a friendly game in October if this case is not settled. "

Read also CAN 2019: Tunisia puts an end to Madagascar's dream

Several members of the national team agreed to answer questions from the World Africa, asking to remain anonymous. "We are waiting for our money. It should be known that the federation had received 250 000 dollars (230 000) of the African Football Confederation (FCA), like all other federations, as a qualifying bonus. The players had left $ 160,000 at the FMF, and it was the head of state who had completed the bonuses of the players. For our course in Egypt, the FMF received $ 1 million from CAF. Normally, $ 600,000 was to go back to the players and the staff, the rest to the federation. So far, we have not touched a euro »explains an international.

According to another source internal to the selection, the new president of the FMF, Raoul Arizaka Rabekoto, would not have the necessary funds to pay what the body must. Elected at the end of August, Raoul Arizaka Rabekoto would have found on his arrival a catastrophic financial situation. For several months, the FMF was placed, on the instructions of FIFA, under the direction of a standardization committee. " And this committee has obviously left a lot of debt, that the money paid by the CAF would serve to honor ", continues this source.

"We've done enough social like that"

"So, if that's the case, you have to know why there is so much debt. In a few months, 160,000 and 400,000 dollars have landed in the caisses of the federation. If there are people who have stolen money, you have to identify them. It is unacceptable. This course in Egypt, it is the players and the staff who realized it, not the standardization committee "resumed, annoyed, the Malagasy international.

The players, especially reassembled, wait for the situation is released quickly. In November, Madagascar will begin its qualifying campaign for the CAN 2021, with matches against Ivory Coast in Antananarivo (11) and Niger, a week later. And the internationals seem determined to camp on their positions, as long as they have not received their money. "If I am selected, and I have not received what I owe, I do not go there. And I can assure you that I am far from being alone in this state of mind. We have done enough social like that. If money has been diverted, find the culprits and they are accountable "adds the player.

Read also CAN 2019: Nicolas Dupuis, the miracle worker of the Madagascar selection

The situation is so tense that Nicolas Dupuis, the French Zebu coach, refused to sign the new four-year contract that he was promised in August, as a sign of solidarity with his players. Contacted, the latter confirmed the information, while seeking to be optimistic: "We were told that the situation could be resolved soon. What I can assure you is that this case does not call into question the commitment of the players for their national selection, and for the project we have set up. But they just ask that the commitments that were made be honored … "

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