SA, Morocco in pole position
The 2019 Afcon finals may be hosted by South Africa or Morocco next year.
Cameroon was on Friday stripped of hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) due to delays in preparing for the continental showpiece, organisers of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced.
“Today we took the decision to withdraw the 2019 Afcon from Cameroon,” CAF president Ahmad Ahmad told a press conference in Accra, seven months before the 2019 opening match.
He was speaking after a 10-hour CAF executive meeting held behind closed doors in the Ghanaian capital.
Ahmad said “a taskforce” would be set up to launch an appeal for offers “to determine a new organising country between now and the end of the year”.
South Africa and Morocco are two frontline contenders to step in as hosts for the event expanded to 24 teams for the first time, in place of Cameroon, who won the last edition in 2017 in Gabon.
Morocco, who lost out to a United States/Mexico/Canada bid to host the 2026 World Cup, have regularly been reported as possible replacements.
The North Africans had been set to stage the 2015 Cup of Nations before being stripped of its hosting rights in a row over the Ebola outbreak.
South Africa is the only African country to stage a World Cup, in 2010, and last staged Afcon in 2013.
“I know that there are countries which are interested, rest assured, candidate countries will come forward,” said Ahmad.
“We know there won't be many new candidates but we will leave the taskforce to evaluate them and to set up visits in order to select the organisers of the Afcon by the end of the year.”
Alarm bells were sounded over the 2019 event at a September executive committee meeting in Egyptian resort Sharm el-Sheikh when CAF noted “a significant delay in the realisation of the infrastructures” necessary for holding the tournament in Cameroon. A report of the last two inspection visits to Cameroon was provided at Friday's meeting.
CAF inspectors recently travelled to the country, which last hosted the tournament in 1972, to check security, infrastructure, stadiums and accommodation.
Cameroon is experiencing a tense security situation with persistent attacks by Boko Haram jihadists in the north and a conflict between the army and separatists in the two English-speaking regions.
That recalls the trauma that preceded the 2010 Afcon finals in Angola, when the Togo team bus was attacked with three dead two days before the opening match.
Ahmad observed: “Football in Africa depends on our governments. But our priority is to look after the interests of our actors and above all our players.
“I don't know whether there are statistics but many have been injured during Afcon due to the condition of the organisation.”
Afcon is no stranger to dramatic subplots.
In 1995 Kenya withdrew as hosts, citing financial difficulties, with South Africa stepping in and going on to be crowned champions.
South Africa also took over holding the 2013 tournament after original hosts Libya had pulled out two years earlier because of the armed conflict then raging in the country.
Equatorial Guinea stepped in to the breach in 2015 when original hosts Morocco had appealed in vain for the competition to be delayed because of the Ebola epidemic.
Ahmad, meanwhile, appeared to hold out an olive branch to Cameroon.
“CAF is committed to supporting Cameroon, to give them time so that they can properly organise Afcon,” he told reporters.
He refused to be drawn on whether that meant Cameroon could replace Ivory Coast as hosts of the 2021 edition, or be designated as organisers in 2023.
The 2019 event is scheduled for June 15 to July 13, a change from its traditional January to February slot. It will be the first to feature 24 teams up from 16 at the 2017 edition in Gabon.
- NAMPA/AFP
“Today we took the decision to withdraw the 2019 Afcon from Cameroon,” CAF president Ahmad Ahmad told a press conference in Accra, seven months before the 2019 opening match.
He was speaking after a 10-hour CAF executive meeting held behind closed doors in the Ghanaian capital.
Ahmad said “a taskforce” would be set up to launch an appeal for offers “to determine a new organising country between now and the end of the year”.
South Africa and Morocco are two frontline contenders to step in as hosts for the event expanded to 24 teams for the first time, in place of Cameroon, who won the last edition in 2017 in Gabon.
Morocco, who lost out to a United States/Mexico/Canada bid to host the 2026 World Cup, have regularly been reported as possible replacements.
The North Africans had been set to stage the 2015 Cup of Nations before being stripped of its hosting rights in a row over the Ebola outbreak.
South Africa is the only African country to stage a World Cup, in 2010, and last staged Afcon in 2013.
“I know that there are countries which are interested, rest assured, candidate countries will come forward,” said Ahmad.
“We know there won't be many new candidates but we will leave the taskforce to evaluate them and to set up visits in order to select the organisers of the Afcon by the end of the year.”
Alarm bells were sounded over the 2019 event at a September executive committee meeting in Egyptian resort Sharm el-Sheikh when CAF noted “a significant delay in the realisation of the infrastructures” necessary for holding the tournament in Cameroon. A report of the last two inspection visits to Cameroon was provided at Friday's meeting.
CAF inspectors recently travelled to the country, which last hosted the tournament in 1972, to check security, infrastructure, stadiums and accommodation.
Cameroon is experiencing a tense security situation with persistent attacks by Boko Haram jihadists in the north and a conflict between the army and separatists in the two English-speaking regions.
That recalls the trauma that preceded the 2010 Afcon finals in Angola, when the Togo team bus was attacked with three dead two days before the opening match.
Ahmad observed: “Football in Africa depends on our governments. But our priority is to look after the interests of our actors and above all our players.
“I don't know whether there are statistics but many have been injured during Afcon due to the condition of the organisation.”
Afcon is no stranger to dramatic subplots.
In 1995 Kenya withdrew as hosts, citing financial difficulties, with South Africa stepping in and going on to be crowned champions.
South Africa also took over holding the 2013 tournament after original hosts Libya had pulled out two years earlier because of the armed conflict then raging in the country.
Equatorial Guinea stepped in to the breach in 2015 when original hosts Morocco had appealed in vain for the competition to be delayed because of the Ebola epidemic.
Ahmad, meanwhile, appeared to hold out an olive branch to Cameroon.
“CAF is committed to supporting Cameroon, to give them time so that they can properly organise Afcon,” he told reporters.
He refused to be drawn on whether that meant Cameroon could replace Ivory Coast as hosts of the 2021 edition, or be designated as organisers in 2023.
The 2019 event is scheduled for June 15 to July 13, a change from its traditional January to February slot. It will be the first to feature 24 teams up from 16 at the 2017 edition in Gabon.
- NAMPA/AFP
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