CAF president Ahmad Ahmad says the decision on whether Cameroon would be maintained or not as host of the AFCON 2019 will be made know after October 7.
On Sunday in Cairo, the continent football’s body will be discussing the situation in Cameroon after inspectors raised alarm over delays in preparation for the continental competition scheduled for mid next year.
According to Ahmad, the outcome of the meeting will not be released before October 7, the day presidential elections will hold in Cameroon.
“CAF will not make any communication regarding the decision that will be taken before the Cameroonian presidential election of October 7. We do not want to disrupt the campaign,” Ahmad said in an interview on Friday.
“In 2017, CAF waited for the end of the presidential election in Kenya to announce its decision to withdraw the organisation of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) from the east African country.
“In August, a technical committee from CAF and an auditing company spent several days in Cameroon for an inspection visit. I will not decide alone whether or not Cameroon can organise the competition. We are no longer in a system of dictatorial governance, where all decisions were made by one person. At CAF, there are experts and decisions are made collegiate,” he said.
Morocco has stated its intention to step in if Cameroon is stripped of the right to host the event. However, Ahmad claims some other countries could also stage the tournament.
“Yes Morocco can, but do not forget countries like South Africa or Egypt? They boast of all the necessary infrastructure to host the tournament.”
Participating teams of the AFCON have been increased from 16 to 24.
