CAFCL: Al-Hilal Omdurman complains to CAF over officiating

Al-Hilal Omdurman has lodged a complaint to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over suspected questionable officiating during their Sunday’s CAF Champions League (CAFCL) match against RS Berkane.

During the quarterfinal second leg match played in Rwanda, the adopted home country of the Sudanese giants, referee Abdou Abdel Mefire courted controversy. The Cameroonian whistle-man disallowed Al-Hilal’s goal after consulting Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in the 55th minute.

نهاية المباراة
الـهــلال (0 – 1) نهضة بركان #The_most_decorated_club_in_Sudan#النادي_الأكثر_تتويجاً_بالبطولات_في_السودان pic.twitter.com/6ax55fdonb

— Al Hilal SC (@AlHilalSC_) March 22, 2026

The referee went on to award a penalty to RS Berkane in the 61st minute but the Moroccans later fluffed it, before grabbing a 93rd minute goal to knock Al Hilal out of the Champions League via a 2-1 aggregate score.

Al Hilal open up on officiating performance

Now, the Rwanda Premier League pacesetters have formally made their opinion known to CAF on VAR and Mefire’s handling of the crucial match. Pan-Africa Football has since seen a statement lodged to CAF.

“Al Hilal Club has staged a strong protest against the refereeing staff of their match against RS Berkane in the quarter-final of the CAF Champions League…the main referee and the VAR technical ruling caused them to lose the match, due to their bias against the opponent,” reads the letter.

The Sudanese side claims that the referee was not qualified to manage the match, stating that the club had demanded the appointment of experienced personnel with competence and credibility to administer matches.

Why Al-Hilal is unhappy with CAF’s choice of referees

Al-Hilal added it was unfortunate that CAF ignored the club’s earlier concerns regarding the referee and the VAR team.

“Attaching to the protest is a video that shows the mistakes of the refereeing staff… a video shows the opponent’s striker raised his foot above the foot of the Al-Hilal defender, which caused the injury of our player, and denied him an opportunity to complete the match, where he left as a substitute, despite that counts as a penalty for not having it,” reads the statement.

“In addition to employing the VAR technique badly and violating its usage protocol according to Article 5 which explicitly states that VAR cannot be used after resuming play…. the referee did not reflect the actual time lost.”

Al Hilal lost 1-0 to RS Berkane on Sunday to bow out of the continental league campaign.

The Rwandan Premier League pacesetters needed just any draw to progress to the semifinal stage. Instead, it was the Botola Pro 1 side, which is through and they will meet AS FAR Rabat in the last-four phase.