An unusual incident occurred during the CAF Confederation Cup. Abdou Amada, known as Dama, the head coach of FC Rouge—the reigning Madagascar Cup champions—was unable to take his place on the bench this Saturday against Zambia’s Red Arrows at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola. Despite holding the A-license required by the CAF, he was forced to watch the match away from his players.
The host team won 2-0 in this first leg of the first preliminary round of the CAF Confederation Cup.
The coach addressed the ban during the post-match press conference. “The match commissioner showed us the team sheet shortly before kickoff. It stated that three of our technical staff, including head coach Dama as well as Tipet and Ntsoa, were not authorized to sit on the bench,” reported club president Hasina Rakotondramiara.
The second coach, Tipet, who also holds an A-license, did not make the trip. “We immediately contacted the official at the Malagasy Football Federation, but the error stemmed from a communication issue with the CAF,” the FC Rouge president added.
Helly Zafimanga, head of competitions at the Malagasy Football Federation (FMF), explained that “it was an error in the CAF system. The files were indeed sent, but the attachment was not included. The FC Rouge management should have alerted us during the working session so that we could have resolved the problem in time.”
He assured that this incident should not happen again during the return leg, scheduled for Sunday, September 13, at Côte d’Or in Mauritius. The Malagasy delegation is expected to fly to Mauritius on Thursday.
Captured & Published at: 2026-09-09 06:24:10 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://www.lexpress.mg/2026/09/football-coupe-de-la-caf-le-coach-dama.html