A South African petition after the country’s national soccer team lost 1-0 to Ghana in their final 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier has attracted more than 75,000 signatures.
The Bafana Bafana claim they were handed a raw deal by Senegalese referee Maguette N’Diaye who awarded Ghana a dubious penalty just after the hour mark.
Ghana captain Andre Ayew converted the spot-kick to seal a 1-0 win which secured qualification to the playoff stage as Group G winners and that defeat eliminated South Africa.
Ndiaye spotted a foul by Rushine De Reuck on defender Daniel Amartey inside but most South Africans felt that was a soft call.
A petition was launched by Thato Majola immediately after the match, demanding an immediate investigation from FIFA.
The petition started with a target of 15 00 signatures, but such has been the response that that’s now been upped to 75 000!.
”We call upon FIFA’s ethics committee to investigate the Senegalese referee for possible match manipulation and influencing the result of a football match,” Majola wrote.