Togo's plea to play rejected by CAF

Togo’s request to play at the Africa Cup of Nations has been turned down by the tournament organisers.

The squad flew home on Sunday in the wake of Friday’s gun attack, which killed three people.

The country’s sports minister then lobbied the Confederation of African Football (Caf) to allow the team to take part after three days of mourning.

But Caf, which initially wanted Togo to remain in Angola, gave no reason for its decision to exclude them.

After initially being keen to return home after the attack, the Togo players changed their minds following a team meeting before finally being convinced by their national authorities to take a flight to the Togolese capital of Lome on Sunday night.

As he boarded a plane in Cabinda, Togo captain Emmanuel Adebayor said: “We have to mourn our dead. We go back home to do this.”

Despite the postponement of the side’s opening match of the competition against Ghana in the northern enclave of Cabinda on Monday evening, Togo sports minister Christophe Padumhokou Tchao still believed it is was possible that they could rejoin the tournament.

“The players are leaving with the bodies of their fallen brothers and we have asked the Confederation of African Football to find an arrangement so we can catch up with the competition later,” he stated. BBC Sport