Barthélemy Boganda stadium in Bangui: "The complex is no longer up to standards"

Text by: Annie Gasnier Follow

The stadium in the Central African capital has been suspended for international matches. It is no longer up to standard. Officials are mobilizing, and the president of the Football Federation, Célestin Yanindji, wants to be optimistic. Interview.

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The "Fauves du Bas-Oubangui" deprived of their favorite playground, and their fervent public! The Barthélemy Boganda multi-sports stadium is suspended for all international meetings, after the passage of experts sent by the International Federation (FIFA) and the African Confederation (CAF), last February. The reproaches are numerous, the report is very thick.

Built by the Chinese and inaugurated in 2006, the largest sports arena in the Central African Republic, which was the pride of a nation, is today mostly frequented by young people, for its bars and nightclub that enliven its perimeter. The president of the Football Federation (FCF), Célestin Yanindji, however wants to believe that everything will be resolved for the next meeting of the national team.

“ This is bad news for my country and my federation , recognizes the president of the CWF. The state of the lawn is for me the easiest to resolve, what worries me are the changing rooms, and all the spaces to receive referees, match officers and the press, unsuitable. The standards of fifteen years ago, during construction, are no longer the same. The complex is no longer up to standard. The report has been sent to the Minister of Sports and he should act in the coming months to correct the problems . ”

RFI: Célestin Yanindji, would playing on neutral ground be a handicap for the "Fauves du Bas Oubangui"?

We have not been beaten at home for ten years, our audience carries its players. Here is a cauldron! In 2013 (note: during the political violence due to the Seleka rebellion) we had to play two matches elsewhere, in Brazzaville and Yaoundé, and we had lost both, against Guinea-Bissau and against South Africa. Soon we will have a double confrontation with Morocco, counting for the CAN 2021 qualifiers. Go outside. The return will be in Bangui, I guarantee it! We must preserve our chances, after a victory against Burundi and a defeat in Mauritania in group E.

It seems that you have real ambitions for your team, with its new coach?

The first results obtained by the Ivorian François Zahoui, who arrived in September 2019, are convincing. He stayed in Bangui, where we are not confined, even if the matches are stopped as a preventive measure against the coronavirus. And the internationals have all received a fitness program. The qualifiers can quickly resume and we have the ambition to participate, at least, in a first final phase of the CAN.

Born and trained in France, Geoffrey Kondogbia joined the ranks of the "Fauves" in September 2018. Does it symbolize your new ambitions?

Kondogbia is our ambassador, our torchbearer, the standard bearer of the Central African Republic. His presence makes young people want to look like him, to reach his level. His professionalism and his career are an example, he brings a lot to the national team. We have several binationals to convince. Junior Sambia, from Montpellier, is one of them. He is still young, but we hope that one day, he will understand that wearing the jersey of his country of origin is important, and we will welcome him in the den of "Fauves".

What is the agreement made in Paris on March 12 with the French Federation (FFF), as part of the FIFA Forward project?

This agreement is for us the birth certificate of Central African football, we can not have better support than that of the FFF, given its skills in training players. Young people from French education are flooding European lawns, an example to follow. And we hope to achieve the same results, by starting a work at the base.

Did the second title of world champion of France motivate this rapprochement?

The "Blues" have a lot of supporters here, me first! Beyond the titles of French football, we must follow this example, to reach a result on the African chessboard, why not worldwide but you have to be patient and work. And Central African football will show in four or five years that work pays.

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