Hervé Xavier Zengue (born 22 January 1984) is a former professional footballer. Born in Cameroon, he represented Burkina Faso at international level. His participation in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying game caused controversy in 2011. The

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan. At the FIFA Co ...

's rejection of an appeal from the Namibian Football Association was the subject of an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in December 2011. Namibia had initially appealed to the

as Zengue was not eligible to play in international fixtures for ''Les Étalons'', their appeal was rejected on a technicality. Namibia later appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have CAF's rejection overturned. The Court ruled in favour of the African Football Governing body. Zengue's participation in a

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

game in June 2012 was investigated by FIFA who ruled him ineligible to represent Burkina Faso subject to appeal.

International career

Zengue made his international début for

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

against

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

in a

2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

match on 26 March 2011. He played in his first FIFA-organised game in June 2012 versus Congo.

Contested eligibility

On 4 June 2011, he played again for Burkina Faso against Namibia. Burkina Faso coach Paulo Duarte said that the player is eligible as he has a Burkinabé wife which entitles him to citizenship. Namibian football officials formally complained about Zengue's participation because it was thought he was not eligible to represent Burkina Faso, as he did not meet the conditions set out in FIFA's statutes which would have enabled him to become eligible for the Burkina Faso national team. On 28 October, the day before the group stage draw for the

2012 Africa Cup of Nations The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (C ...

, BBC reported that the player was ineligible and the player had not been granted clearance by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. However, CAF chose to dismiss Namibia's complaint as it was not counter-signed by Burkina Faso's captain as per article 37.1 of CAF's statutes. Namibian FA unsuccessfully appealed the CAF decision. The NFA lodged a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn CAF's decision to reject Zengue. On 10 January 2012, CAS released a statement that said Namibia's appeal had been rejected. A press released by CAS stated that Zengue had taken residency in Burkina Faso in 1994, before receiving a Burkinabe nationality certificate in 2006 (whilst a player at Ankaragücü in Turkey) and a Burkinabe passport in March 2011 (the day before his début against Namibia). At no point did CAS decide whether or not Zengue was to be considered eligible for international football with Burkina Faso. In December 2012, FIFA chose to punish Burkina Faso for fielding the ineligible Zengue in their World Cup qualifying game versus The Congo. Congo were awarded a 3–0 victory and 3 points.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Statistics accurate as of match played 2 June 2012''

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zengue, Herve 1984 births Living people Burkinabe men's footballers Footballers from Yaoundé Burkina Faso men's international footballers Men's association football defenders MKE Ankaragücü footballers Leixões S.C. players Czech First League players FK Viktoria Žižkov players Burkinabe expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia FC Akhmat Grozny players Russian Premier League players Burkinabe expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic 21st-century Burkinabe sportsmen