Will Cameroon be ready to host AFCON 2021? The answer is a resounding “NO” even if peace returns to Southern Cameroons. Today, Friday, March 15, 2019, employees of Prime Potomac working on AFCON projects in Garoua were tear-gassed and dispersed by police after a sit-in strike at the Governor’s office. Prime Potomac says work has stopped on all its projects because the government has not paid its invoices to the tune of FCFA 3 billion; hence the company, like others involved in AFCON projects, cannot pay its staff. Instead of settling its outstanding bills, Tourism and Leisure Minister, Bello Bouba has inform the SG at the Presidency; Ngoh Ngoh who awarded the contracts to Prime Potomac, that going forward, supervisory authority over the contracts will be done by the Governor, who now has the sole power to authorize and pay for expenses. This will obviously precipitate a protracted legal fracas that might stall the projects.

Without any public tenders, Prime Potomac was awarded four contracts worth FCFA 26 billion. They include constructing four (4) new training stadiums- (Coton Sport, Poumpoumre, CENAJES, Rey-re); rehabilitate the Benoue Hotel; construct a new 4-star hotel with 103 rooms and 8 suites. These projects were due to be completed by March 31, 2019.

It has been said that if you fail to plan; then you are planning to fail. Two years is not far; just imagine the international embarrassment and national disgrace if Cameroon loses the right to host AFCON 2021…Remember, no one has been held accountable for the AFCON 2019 debacle.

Egypt and South Africa are the only countries that met Confederation of African Football’s December 14, 2018 deadline to show interest in hosting the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2019. The decision on who wins the hosting rights is expected to come up on January 9, 2019. This is going to be barely six months to the event in June. The decision to host arose when Cameroon was stripped of the hosting rights after it was originally awarded in 2014. CAF had claimed that Cameroon’s unpreparedness and the insecurity arising from the Boko haram insurgency and the Anglophone separatists group were reasons it denied the country from hosting AFCON 2019. I think CAF’s decision is unfair.

Taking the contentious issue of security for instance, what measure of insecurity is enough to withdraw the hosting rights from a candidate that had been awarded and how close to the tournament can this decision be made? Bigger events like the Summer Olympics in Munich 1972 and Atlanta 1996 are remembered for massacres of Jews and bomb blast during the respective games, yet they weren’t considered unsafe to host future events. Even AFCON 2010 staged in Angola witnessed a terrorist attack on the Togo national team bus while on its way to the competition by a Cabinda separatist group similar to the Bamenda separatist group in Cameroon. Then, Togo pulled out against CAF’s insistence. If CAF could demand Togo to partake in an event that they feared for their lives and encouraged other nations to stay behind, why use insecurity as an excuse to strip Cameroon of the event?

However, which African nation is safe? Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon are battling Boko Haram insurgents. Libya remains without a central government after Gaddafi. Kenya and Somalia are battling Al-Shabaab. West Africa is battling ISIS. Central African Republic is still on fire. The Congo wars have never really ceased. The same goes to Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. Separatist groups abound in Angola, Cameroon, Morocco and South Sudan just to mention a few. Elections spark violence in African nations, so triggering the insecurity clause will mean AFCONs will be taking place outside the continent. I didn’t even mention Ebola. In fact, sports governing bodies often refuse to move tournaments from previously rostered venues over security or political issues to make a statement that sport is a unifying tool that transcends unhealthy differences.

Enter Cameroon’s unpreparedness. When Cameroon was granted AFCON 2019, the event was a 16-team event to be played in the traditional months of January-February. All of a sudden CAF’s new leadership felt that Africa’s football showpiece be expanded to 24 teams and moved to June-July to align with the European football offseason. Nothing is wrong with expanding AFCON, but why the immediacy considering that qualifiers had already begun for a 16-team event? That is akin to changing the rules of the match in the middle of the match. This same argument and suspicion goes to FIFA’s plan of expanding the 2022 World Cup to 48 after awarding Qatar on a 32-team platform. So Cameroon is now made to change plans. More matches, more hotels, more stadia, more ground workers and they will now have to consider the rains. Yes, the rains.

Because Europe is increasingly becoming the hub of football, more and more tier one players gravitate there to ply their trade. This means that for AFCON to showcase its finest, participating nations have to call up Europe-based professionals. For this reason, there is usually an exodus of African players during the midseason to participate in AFCON. This irritates European club sides because they are made to do without their best legs during the weeks of the competition and worse if the players return with injuries. This has made CAF tinker with the scheduling of AFCON over time. Older ones can recall it used to be in March-April before it stabilised at January-February which I believe is the best compromise. Besides being in the African dry season, it also corresponds with when most European leagues take a brief winter break.

However, these European football oligarchs have cornered CAF into an unforced foul of moving AFCON to the European summer. Did CAF consider that AFCON will now have to muscle TV time with the oldest international football competition Copa America (South America’s Nations’ Cup)? Did they also ponder that the June-July date clashes with FIFA Confederations Cup, a competition for continental champions? Does it mean the African champions would have just few weeks or days to prepare for that event? With preseason friendlies becoming progressively essential and the expanding International Champions Cup, the problem of clubs releasing players for AFCON will not go away just like that. African players will be doing all to secure their shirts and transfers will be on at that time.

June-July is the peak of the rainy season in sub-Saharan Africa. Compelling prospecting AFCON hosts to build roofed arenas to avoid shifting matches due to rains is practically impossible for African countries. Besides, football festivals like AFCON are not narrowed to the field of play. There are several other out-of-field events and drizzles will dampen the excitement of the event. Except CAF is saying AFCONs will only be hosted in North Africa and Southern Africa which is apartheid.

Boca Juniors and River Plate just played the finals of Copa Libertadores (South America’s Champions league) in November while Son Heung-min will be leaving Tottenham Hotspur for three weeks in January like other Asian footballers to captain South Korea in the 2019 Asian Cup. So what is the big deal about aligning with the European calendar? What is most important is that there is orderliness in schedules. Actually, the angst expressed by European clubs when there is a flight of African players in January publicizes AFCON.

Asking Cameroon to now host the 2021 edition does not break the ice on the farrago of chaos created. Will Cote d’Ivoire that was initially handed 2021 and Guinea 2023 now prepare for 2023 and 2025? Shouldn’t Egypt or South Africa be given right of first refusal after losing the 2019 bid?

Aligning with European football calendar is not what Africa needs, it is aligning with European football character. Africa can’t continue to run football with a national team bias, it is club football that is the soul of the game. Creating parallel AFCON for home-based players or the obsolete staging of the event every other year has only left African football behind. A quadrennial AFCON like other continents in my opinion will be a better deal. This will not only give prospective hosts more time to prepare but also reduce the number of low-ranked teams that drop out in the middle of the qualifiers. Also the duplicated African Nations Championship (biennial nations’ cup for home-based players) should be dropped so that CAF and its affiliates can invest in local leagues which are the tributaries that supply national teams. This way the best of Africa will be in the continent and would not continue to be tossed to and fro by Europe.

Culled from ThisDay

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)president, Amaju Melvin Pinnick has defended the decision of Confederation of African Football (CAF) to strip Cameroon of hosting right for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Pinnick said in an exclusive interview with sports247.ng that it was not a case of victimization, but one in which the continental body wants to promote high standards for hosting major championship.

Pinnick, whop is also CAF first vice-president and chairman of the body’s AFCON committee, admitted that Cameroon had put in exceptional efforts towards hosting the showpiece but insists they were not ready.

He stressed that hosting the continent goes beyond extra effort and sweet talk, as evidence on ground at the various earmarked venues showed that Cameroon were not just ready to receive the continent.

Pinnick stated further in the interview with sports247.ng at the weekend: “We have a level playing field for all countries.

“Cameroon showed good intention to host, they have an exceptional record of efforts in African football, but they are not ready for AFCON.

“That is why they were stripped off the hosting right, and it has now been thrown open to any other willing country.

“Whichever country CAF decides to hand the hosting rights to, I can assure you such country will seen to be ready, not just to plug and play. “Such country will have already available facilities and ready to host the rest of Africa at short notice.”

Source: Sports 247.ng

Liverpool and Egypt striker Mohamed Salah has capped a sparkling 2018 for club and country by winning the prestigious BBC African Footballer of the Year Award for the second time in a row. “It’s a great feeling to win again. I’m happy and I would like to win it also next year!” said Salah.

The 26-year-old, who beat Medhi Benatia, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sadio Mane and Thomas Partey to the award, is just the second player after Jay-Jay Okocha to win it two years running. Yaya Toure is the only other player to have twice won the award in its current form while Nwankwo Kanu won it twice when it was a broader African Sports Personality award.

Salah scored 44 goals in 52 games for Liverpool last season, his first on Merseyside after joining them from Roma, and helped them to reach the Champions League final.

His club form has continued this season with his winner against Napoli on Tuesday that saw the Reds into the Champions League last 16 taking his tally to 13.

“There have been many good moments in 2018,” he added. “I’m scoring goals and helping the team to get the points to be top of the league. That’s always a great feeling.”

Salah also scored twice for Egypt at the World Cup in Russia. Earlier in 2018, Salah won the English double — the Players’ Player of the Year and the Football Writers’ Player of the Year.

Salah also won the 2017 CAF Player of the Year and is one of 10 nominees for the 2018 award which will be announced in January. Salah becomes the first player since Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha to win the award in consecutive years.

AGENCIES

The country’s FA has confirmed that all the documents have been submitted to Caf to consider South Africa as Cameroon’s replacement. South Africa has finally submitted their bid to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

This was confirmed by the South African Football Association (Safa) through its communications manager Dominic Chimhavi.  Initially, SA Sports Minister Thokozile Xasa said the country will not bid to replace Cameroon, saying that they would wait for Caf to approach Safa.

“We have submitted our bid documents. It is now up to CAF to decide,” Chimhavi told AFP.  The latest developments simply mean that the South African government has agreed to help Safa stage the tournament after the association made it public that there were not enough funds to host the continental showpiece.

South Africa needs at least R140 million to host the 24-team tournament next year.  Cameroon was stripped of the rights to host the games after it emerged that the stadia would not be ready come June 2019.

Morocco has since pulled out of the running to host the tournament, but it was confirmed on Thursday that Egypt is also keen on replacing Cameroon.  This means the race is between South Africa and Egypt, although the decision rests solely with Caf.

The deadline for the submissions of bids is on Friday, while the new hosts will be announced in Senegal on January 9, 2019.  South Africa has previously hosted the tournament on two separate occasions – in 1996 and 2013.

Egypt on the other hand, last hosted the competition in 2006. Both South Africa and Egypt have eight Afcon titles between them, but the Southern African country last laid their hands on the trophy 22 years ago on home soil. 

Source: Goal.com

Comoros have turned to Caf Statutes seeking Cameroon’s expulsion from the 2019 Afcon qualification after the Central Africans lost hosting rights. Comoros have written to Caf asking for the disqualification of Cameroon from the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals after the Central Africans lost rights to host next year’s edition.

The stripping of Cameroon’s 2019 Afcon hosting rights could lead to a legal wrangle as Comoros seek to evoke Caf statutes for the Indomitable Lions to be expelled from the tournament. Caf found Cameroon ill-prepared to stage the tournament and withdrew mandate which would be handed to another country before the end of this year.

According to Article 92 of Caf regulations: “If a country having been entrusted with the organisation of the final tournament of the Africa Cup of Nations is desisting or the tournament is being withdrawn from it, it shall be subject, in addition to further disciplinary sanctions, to a fine fixed according to the following scale:

“92.3. Withdrawal notified within one year before the date of the final tournament: a fine of five hundred thousand (500,000) U.S. dollars and a suspension of the next edition of Afcon of it’s A national team, without considering the concerned edition.”

Strengthening their case, Comoros have cited the case study of Morocco being expelled from the 2015 Afcon finals after withdrawing their hosting responsibility.

Also cited were Kenya who had the 2018 African Nations Championships (Chan) taken away from them and expelled from the tournament for not being ready to host.

The Madagascar national Under-17 team were also booted out of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Under-17 finals after they had hosting rights withdrawn from them for ill-preparedness.

Comoros General manager Saadi Ben Amir confirmed that they had raised issues with Caf. “I was with my president this morning and he sent a letter to Caf asking for clarification,” Ben Amir was quoted as saying by Afrik Foot.

“We are asking for the application of the regulation, and more specifically Article 92, which states that a country which is withdrawn from the organisation of Afcon does not participate in the edition in question.”

Interestingly, Cameroon host Comoros meet in the final Afcon qualifier and if the latter wins, they would book a place at the finals for the first time ever in their history. The two teams are separated by three pints in Group B which has Morocco as leaders.

Source: Goal.com