Abdelmounaïm Bah: "Trying to reprogram the CHAN in 2020"

The Secretary General of the African Football Confederation, Abdelmounaïm Bah. Courtesy of cafonline

Text by: David Kalfa Follow

Abdelmounaïm Bah is the acting head of administration (Secretary General) of the African Football Confederation (CAF). He takes stock of the situation of CAF and its competitions, in the context of the global pandemic of Covid-19. Interview.

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RFI : Abdelmounaïm Bah, how is work organized at the African Football Confederation (CAF) ? Do employees continue to come to work at headquarters in Cairo ? Do they use telework ? Or are there partial unemployment measures ?

Abdelmounaïm Bah : No, there are no partial unemployment measures. CAF continues to operate and in particular to prepare for future competitions. She is trying to work on different options to reprogram the competitions that had to be postponed.

A large part of the CAF staff telework, something like 90%. Slightly less than 10% of staff continue to go to headquarters, even if the hours are reduced due to the curfew starting at 7 p.m., implemented in Egypt.

The African club cup finals are scheduled for the end of May : that of the Confederation Cup on 24 in Rabat and that of the Champions League on 29 in Douala. Does CAF work on possible B plans (closed-door matches, “ final four ” in the same city, and / or postponement of meetings) in the event that the pandemic worsens on the continent ?

It is clear that we are working on different options. Today, we exclude playing behind closed doors these matches which are very important for us and for the fans. The preferred option, if it proves necessary, will be to postpone these meetings until the conditions are met so that they can take place in complete safety.

The next African Nations Championship (CHAN 2020), originally scheduled for April 4 to 25 in Cameroon, has been postponed indefinitely. Is it still conceivable that it will take place in 2020, despite a sports calendar that promises to be uncertain and overloaded ?

It is true that the calendar is particularly busy. Everything will depend on the evolution of the situation. But today, the preferred option is to try to reprogram this CHAN in 2020, especially before the next African Cup of Nations, even if we are working on alternative scenarios.

Is it possible that the CHAN will take place after CAN 2021 ?

It is largely possible if this crisis continues. If, unfortunately, we have no choice, we will organize this CHAN in 2021.

Is it possible that CAN 2021 will take place at a time other than the scheduled dates (January 9 to February 6), because of the Covid-19 ?

At this point, everything is possible. Even if, reasonably, we want to hope that this crisis will be behind us this summer. And, if it is the case, the dates of CAN 2021 will be maintained. And we will have time to play the last qualifying matches, between September and November.

And this despite the very short time to organize the draw, between the end of the playoffs and the kick-off of the final phase ?

It would be a fairly short time but it has already happened, especially when there was the Ebola crisis in 2015. The qualifications had ended in November 2014, the draw had taken place in December, a month before the start of CAN 2015.

Same question concerning the next African Cup of Nations for women, scheduled for the end of the year. Will it be played in 2020 or in 2021 ? And when will we know the host country of the tournament ?

We hope to have all the elements to designate the host country by the end of April. A few additional documents were requested from the two candidate countries: Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. Clearly, the current epidemic could have an impact on the female CAN, in particular because we have to play its qualifications and that we have few international female windows to do so. But, for now, and still assuming that we emerge from this crisis this summer, we could maintain the CAN for women at the end of November. And, in the coming weeks, we should be able to choose the host country.

From a financial point of view, will this situation have a significant impact on CAF resources, already not at best to believe the statements of the chairman of the finance committee of the African Football Confederation ?

CAF's finances are solid today. They allow us to stand and cope with this crisis, without major difficulties. The impact would be almost zero for CAF, always assuming that this crisis would pass quickly, before this summer, and where we would not have to cancel competitions and where there would only be postponements. But, even in the worst case, if we were to have problems with some of our trading partners, today the finances of CAF - which owns tens of millions of dollars in equity - would make it possible to get through this crisis, without major difficulties.

CAF has embarked on a vast project to reform its administration, in particular, following an audit by Price Waterhouse Cooper and the proposals made by a working group. Is the current context likely to significantly delay the completion of the Transform CAF 2021 project ?

On the contrary ! It is one of the flagship projects of 2020 for CAF and in particular its administration. We have recruited a dedicated person to carry out this project. And we are taking advantage of this lull in our competitions to precisely launch and accelerate the reforms. A number of internal task forces have been created to make suggestions for improvement in a whole bunch of sectors related to the administration of CAF. We are trying to take advantage of this situation to move forward on this very important project.

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