Did Kaizer Chiefs benefit from dubious penalty against Al Masry? Veteran ref delivers verdict

Kaizer Chiefs were the beneficiaries of a poor decision from the referee in their CAF Confederation Cup clash against Al Masry on Sunday.

Chiefs opened the scoring through a controversial penalty which the Al Masry players protested, insisting the ball had not hit defender Ahmed Mansour’s arm, and veteran referee Victor Hlungwani agrees with them.

Glody Lilepo fired in a shot which hit Mansour and he was adjudged to have handled the ball even though replays showed he had his hands tucked behind his body as the ball hit him.

Ghanaian referee Daniel Laryea, who took charge of the AFCON semi-final between Nigeria and Morocco, awarded Kaizer Chiefs this penalty against Al Masry of Egypt in the CAF Confederation Cup.

Right call?
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— Leagues Reporter (@LeaguesReporter) February 8, 2026

However, Ghanaian referee Daniel Nii Laryea pointed to the spot and even with protests of nearly five minutes from the Al Masry players and technical bench, the decision stood as Flavio Silva scored from the spot seven minutes later.

Why Chiefs penalty should not have stood

While reviewing a number of contentious decisions from the weekend on SABC’s Soccer Zone on Monday, Hlungwani was categorical that the Ghanaian official got it all wrong.

“We talk of natural and unnatural. If hands are here [on the body] no handball offence has been committed,” said Hulungwani.

❌ 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

The Principal says Chiefs penalty against Al Masry should have never stood. @SABC_Sport | #CAFCC

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“Let’s see if the Al Masry player has committed an offence. You can see his hands are natural [tucked behind], where would he put the hands? That is natural position of the hands,” added ‘The Principal’ as he reviewed footage from the game.

“This is natural [hands on the body] but this is unnatural [hands away from the body]. So if the hands are here [on the body] even if they move anywhere, nothing wrong. So already a wrong decision by Daniel from Ghana to give a penalty.”

Al Masry coach slammed poor decision

The penalty decision was also slammed by Al Masry coach Nabil Kouki who was unhappy with the referee, blaming the mistake for how the game turned out for his team, who lost 2-1 at the Peter Mokaba Stadium.

“The penalty is like I’m not so convinced about it,” Kouki said after the game. “I cannot say that the ref has the whole responsibility or was responsible because Kaizer Chiefs had a good game.”

“But the penalty is a big decision to take. I can see from pictures that my player put his hands behind his back but I cannot say the ref took the game out of us.”

The win sent Chiefs top of their group with 10 points, two more than Zamalek, with Al Masry in third with seven, and the Glamour Boys now need a draw to secure top spot and a place in the quarter-final.