Senegal disqualified from 2013 Nations Cup

The national football team of Senegal has been disqualified from the 2013 Nations Cup after riots at the qualification match against Ivory Coast.

The October 13 match was called off after 74 minutes due to the throwing of missiles, firecrackers, bottles and stones on the pitch by Senegal's home fans.

The visiting supporters of Ivory Coast were forced to enter the field to escape the violence, while the Ivorian players were protected by security forces in the centre circle.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed the result of 2-0 as a final win for Ivory Coast.

The manager of Senegal, Ferdinand Coly, has said to accept the sanctions and has apologized to the Ivory Coast team. 

Even though the African Cup of Nations takes place every two years an exception is made as two editions are organized consecutively, once in 2012 and again in 2013.

The CAF announced that they have changed the dates of the African Cup to odd-numbered years. 

This is simply a strategic move to avoid clashing the regional tournament with the globally acclaimed FIFA World Cup. Technically, the African teams can only benefit from this time gap between tournaments, keeping in mind that the winner of the African Nations Cup qualifies for the FIFA Confederations Cup, which in turn secures teams with a spot to participate in the World Cup. 

The rougue 2013 edition of the Nations Cup was meant to take place in Libya, later relocated to South Africa following the development of the Libyan civil war.