The African Football Confederation has decided to exclude Sao Tome from the 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifiers due to its breach of coronavirus protocol in the first leg of the preliminary round of the qualifiers.

According to a CAF statement, Sao Tome fielded a player against the Mauritius team who failed a PCR test for the Corona virus 48 hours before the match.

Louis Leal scored in a 1–0 win against Mauritius in the first leg, knowing the second leg ended in a 3–3 draw, to take São Tomé to the group stage by distinguishing themselves on aggregate.

But the African Football Confederation accepted Mauritius’s appeal and gave it a 3-0 win in the first leg to eliminate Sao Tome and make way for the Mauritius team in the qualifying matches starting next June, in addition to imposing a fine on the Sao Tome Football Association. Tome in the amount of 10 thousand US dollars.

Mauritius will replace their opponent in Group A of the qualification, which also includes Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone.

The first two teams advance to the final next year in Côte d’Ivoire.