December 28 – Yet another u-turn has been made by the increasingly unconvincing head of African football, Ahmad Ahmad.
Having stripped Cameroon of the 2019 African Cup of Nations, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) insisted last week that no decision had yet been reached for them to stage 2021 instead and force original hosts Ivory Coast to stage the event two years later.
But CAF now says Cameroon “has officially accepted to host the Afcon 2021.”
The acceptance was apparently made in a letter signed by Cameroonian Head of State Paul Biya.
In what is becoming a sense of farce CAF said last week that “no decision was taken” by its Executive Committee. Under CAF rules, only the executive committee can award the continent’s showpiece event. Ahmad said CAF would first decide on 2019 “and then we will see.”
Cameroon was stripped of hosting the 2019 Afcon last month due to alleged poor preparations and security issues.
Should it stage the 2021 tournament, that would mean that Ivory Coast – which had been scheduled to host in three years’ time – would have to wait until 2023. Ivory Coast has already lodged an appeal against this with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The decision on who will replace Cameroon for 2019 will be made on January 9 at an executive committee meaning in Senegal with Egypt and South Africa having made firm bids.
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