Things rarely go according to plan in African football, as one French publication emphasised this week. The decision to strip Cameroon of staging this coming summer’s African Nations Cup may have been a deeply hurtful blow to the original hosts but hardly took anyone by surprise given the nature of African football’s leadership which has, quite frankly, become a laughing stock.
January 9 – Liverpool’s Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah has won the African footballer of the year award for the second consecutive time.
January 8 – Just two months after assuring Guinea that they were still clear to host the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, African football boss Ahmad Ahmad is at it again with yet another u-turn.
January 8 – The Somali Football Federation, which last October began a clean-up of its Mogadishu national stadium in a bid to return it to football usage, has now embarked on the redevelopment of its technical centre.
January 7 – Reports that Nigerian FA chief Amaju Pinnick, a strong ally of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, has been arrested over allegations of fraud have been strongly denied by the office of the country’s President Muhammadu Buhari.
December 28 – Yet another u-turn has been made by the increasingly unconvincing head of African football, Ahmad Ahmad.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 19 – Philip Chiyangwa, one of the most charismatic figures in African football and a key ally of Gianni Infantino, has been sensationally ousted as president of the Zimbabwean FA (Zifa) following elections held on Tuesday.
December 18 – Having stripped Cameroon of the 2019 African Cup of Nations, Confederation of African Football (CAF) boss Ahmad Ahmad has insisted no decision has yet been reached for them to stage 2021 instead and force original hosts Ivory Coast to stage the event two years later.
December 17 – Next year’s Africa Cup of Nations will take place in either Egypt or South Africa, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed.
December 17 – Cameroon has a new federation president in Seidou Mbombo Njoya who has vowed to rebuild credibility after the country was stripped of hosting rights for next year’s African Nations Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – In a hugely embarrassing snub to the leadership of African football, the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) has carried out its threat and has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the decision to strip it of hosting rights for 2021 African Cup of Nations.
By Paul Nicholson
December 13 – Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona, a member of CAF’s executive committee and president of the Central African Republic FA, has been arrested in France and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, torture and the recruitment of child soldiers.
December 13 – Morocco have pulled out of the running to step in as replacement hosts of next June’s African Nations Cup leaving South Africa and Egypt as front-runners.
December 12 – The head of African football has denied that he orchestrated the move to strip Cameroon of hosting rights for next year’s African Nations Cup, saying it was a collective decision by his confederation’s inner circle.
December 12 – African football’s leadership will decide on January 9 who will replace Cameroon as hosts of next year’s African Cup of Nations in June and July, giving them only six months to prepare.