CAN 2021: for Anthony Baffoe, "Cameroon is on the right track"
Anthony Baffoe, Deputy Secretary General, responsible for football and development.
© Pierre René-Worns / RFI
Text by: Ndiasse Sambe Follow |
Hugo Harvester
7 min
The deputy secretary general in charge of football and development at the African Football Confederation (CAF), Anthony Baffoe, is optimistic about the success of the next CAN in Cameroon.
The former Ghanaian international is also campaigning for better management of the stadiums after the competitions.
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RFI: Anthony Baffoe, as a prelude to the CAN in a year, how do you judge the state of the infrastructures for this CHAN in Cameroon today?
Anthony Baffoe
: We are at CHAN and on what I see in Cameroon, if I take the example of the Japoma stadium in Douala, or that of Olembé in Yaoundé, they are World Cup venues.
It gives me a certain pride to see great stadiums on the African continent.
Now we have to work for the management of the stadium, especially at the end of the competitions.
The CHAN is a very good test.
CAN is six sites with six stadiums;
in Egypt, we had six sites and each team had its training ground.
In CAF's specifications for CAN, two teams share a field.
Egypt had done better, Cameroon could do like Egypt given what they are doing.
This is to tell you that the stadiums are really there, the infrastructures are well worked out.
We had postponed the CAN of Cameroon to allow them to better prepare, they are on the right track.
In view of CHAN, are Cameroon ready for CAN or are there still some things to improve?
I told you they were on the right track.
This is something important.
Cameroonians put a lot of passion into the work.
CHAN also allows them to learn to perfect their training.
This competition is already a big organization, so imagine the CAN with all the stars who will be present.
Cameroon can organize a quality CAN and we are also here to guide them to reach the top.
We still have time, there is still a year.
I repeat, the CHAN is a good test for everyone as well for CAF as for Cameroon.
Coming back to Japoma and Olembé, the problem with the stadiums built for CAN is that they are poorly exploited or even abandoned after the competition ...
It's true, what is important is after.
What is important is to do more training, management and support.
You need a professional to be a stadium manager.
You also need a director for the event.
We can organize concerts, but also boxing matches for example in these stadiums.
Once again, and it was repeated in the organizing committee, the people who have helped to build the stadiums must continue their training and be the ones who will manage the stadiums after the competition.
If the training requires stays or apprenticeships in Europe, CAF is there to manage this.
You really need to have expertise and a heritage for these stages.
I insist on this point, I also want to see more museums in the stadiums to honor the legends.
In Cameroon, we are discussing with the Minister of Sports and the authorities for the future of the stadiums after the CAN.
The government has invested a lot of money, so it is necessary to have a good management policy after the Africa Cup.
We will continue to put pressure.
After Cameroon, CAN will go to West Africa with Côte d'Ivoire (2023) and Guinea (2025). It is a return to this part of Africa from Ghana in 2008. It is above all an opportunity for these countries to acquire new infrastructures.
Of course, this is always a great opportunity for these countries.
This is also the advantage of organizing an African Cup.
We invited Côte d'Ivoire to come and watch how things are going in Cameroon to transfer knowledge.
The key people in an organization are already a good tournament director, a good security manager.
We are there to help them prepare before the deadlines.
We have already started the inspections in Ivory Coast, to tell you that we are really monitoring all of this closely.
We are pleased that the CAN is coming back to West Africa.
I am a Pan-Africanist.
I am Ghanaian, born in Germany, my heart is African.
It will be the turn of West Africa, after Southern Africa, North Africa, and Central Africa.
By virtue of my function, I am also in charge of development, so we will push for the 54 countries to develop footballistically.
The new deal in the organization is the Covid. Is CHAN also a test to better prepare the CAN health protocol?
The Covid is disrupting everything in the world.
I often say: 'We do not control the Covid.
It's the Covid that controls us. ''
I'm glad that CHAN is the first football tournament open to the public since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It's good to see the joy of the people here in Cameroon and that of the players.
It's a challenge to organize this competition in the current context, but we have to live with that.
The doctors of CAF and those of Cameroon work 24 hours a day to have the best protocol.
It's not perfect, but we want to do our utmost to protect people.
This requires education, communication, because unfortunately, in Africa many believe that this disease no longer exists.
I have lost loved ones, so you have to take that very seriously.
The integration of former players, former African legends, into CAF, was a wish of former President Ahmad. Where are we today?
It was not only a wish of the former president, it was also mine.
Remember that I am a former player.
I created a great platform on WhatsApp with captions.
Lately we have solicited a lot of captions for the campaign to highlight measures against the spread of Covid-19.
During this CHAN for example, Daniel Amokachi (Nigeria), Mark Fish (South Africa), Khalilou Fadiga (Senegal) or Nourredine Naybet (Morocco) are integrated into the technical groups.
There are Cameroonians Rigobert Song, Geremi Njitab or even Samuel Eto'o who is adviser to the president.
We can also mention Herita Ilunga (DR Congo) who was present during the last tournament, Diomansy Camara (Senegal), etc ... We use them and I think it is important to be there and guide them after football .
Former players can bring a lot to CAF.
CHAN 2020 in Cameroon: schedule and match results
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