CAF Disciplinary Board v. MC Alger & Orlando Pirates

MC Alger and Orlando Pirates met in the CAF Champions League quarter-finals: a first leg in Algiers on 1 April 2025, and a goalless second leg at Orlando Stadium on 9 April, with Pirates advancing on aggregate. Players and officials from both sides clashed after the final whistle of the second leg, prompting CAF to open disciplinary proceedings against both clubs. The rulings were announced on 17 April 2025 as part of a single statement that also sanctioned Mamelodi Sundowns and Espérance for unrelated incidents in the same knockout round, all four clubs' cases treated together as evidence of what CAF itself described as a firm stance against indiscipline and unsafe match environments.

MC Alger was charged with violating Articles 82 and 83 of the CAF Disciplinary Code and Articles 32 and 35 of the Safety and Security Regulations over the first leg. The club was fined across four separate heads: USD 100,000 for the inappropriate behaviour of its players and officials, USD 10,000 for the lighting of smoke bombs, USD 20,000 for the use of laser pointers, and USD 10,000 for objects thrown onto the pitch — a combined USD 140,000. Assistant coach Mohamed Khezrouni was separately banned four matches, for violating Articles 82 and 123, with a USD 15,000 personal fine, and player Abdelkader Oussama Menezla received a two-match suspension, one of which was itself suspended for a year.

Orlando Pirates was charged with misconduct and failing to organise adequate security at the second leg. The club was fined USD 50,000 for the improper conduct of its team and a further USD 20,000 for the security failure, a combined USD 70,000. Club official Ezekiel Matebula received a four-match ban, two of which were suspended for a year, and players Sipho Chaine and Nkosinathi Sibisi were each suspended one match, both suspensions themselves immediately suspended for a year.

Read together, the two rulings from the same tie illustrate how CAF treats security and safety obligations as resting squarely on the host club at each leg individually, not as a single shared liability across a two-legged fixture — and, decided alongside Sundowns' and Espérance's unrelated sanctions the same day, show CAF addressing an unusually concentrated run of crowd and conduct incidents across a single Champions League knockout round all at once.