Foot: the incredible soap opera of the CAN in Cameroon
Patrice Motsepe the current president of CAF (left) and his two predecessors, Issa Hayatou (center with footballer Benjamin Moukandjo) and Ahmad (right).
Below, Cameroonian footballer Karl Toko Ekambi.
© Photos AFP & AP - Editing RFI
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
7 mins
This African Cup of Nations (CAN) in Cameroon was to take place in early 2019 with 16 teams.
It will finally compete with 24 countries from January 9 to February 6, 2022. Since its attribution in 2014, this Cameroonian CAN will have undergone four date changes, including one postponement, and an incredible number of pitfalls.
Back to a real soap opera.
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On September 20, 2014, the African Football Confederation (
CAF
) proudly announces that the African Cups of Nations (
CAN
)
2019
,
2021
and
2023
will be respectively organized by
Cameroon
, Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea.
The president of CAF, Cameroonian Issa Hayatou, is obviously happy that the competition has been awarded to his country, for the first time since 1972. The one who heads the body based in Cairo since 1988 is aiming for an eighth term.
This would allow him to celebrate CAN 2019 in Cameroon, as the boss of African football.
Issa Hayatou's defeat reshuffles the cards
In March 2017, the omnipotent Hayatou was nevertheless beaten to everyone's surprise by the Malagasy Ahmad, for the presidency of CAF.
The latter has the reputation of being supported by the International Football Federation (
FIFA
).
Above all, he has plenty of reform ideas for the continental round ball.
►
To (re) read: RFI poll: a World Cup every 4 years and the CAN every 2 years acclaimed
The president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, and that of the African Football Confederation (CAF), Ahmad, on February 2, 2018 in Casablanca.
FADEL SENNA / AFP
In July 2017, he convened a large symposium in Morocco.
At the end of round tables, CAF decides in particular that CAN will compete with 24 teams (against 16 since CAN 1996) and that the tournament will preferably take place in June-July.
Cameroonians are asked to say if they accept this change in the specifications of the competition.
The Cameroonian authorities accept the challenge.
Delays and Criticisms
Problem: the country of the Indomitable Lions has already accumulated delays in its preparations for CAN 2019, on the various sites already chosen (Bafoussam, Douala, Garoua and Yaoundé).
Ahmad, moreover, does not hesitate to point it out with virulence.
August 5, 2017, less than two years from the final phase, the new boss of African football coward during a press conference in Burkina Faso: "
Cameroon is not ready, even to (host a CAN at) four teams.
"
A statement that arouses an outcry on the spot.
A few days later, the Head of State
Paul Biya
retorts, during a speech: “
Cameroon will be ready on the day called, I make the commitment.
However, the facts will prove him wrong.
CAN 2019 withdrawn in Cameroon
During one year, the inspection visits sponsored by CAF multiply.
They do not go at all in the direction of Paul Biya.
On November 30, 2018 in Accra, after a tense meeting, the CAF Executive Committee withdrew the organization of CAN 2019 in Cameroon.
An edition which will then be reassigned to Egypt.
The snub is terrible.
Egyptian Mohamed Salah during CAN 2019 at home.
AFP - KHALED DESOUKI
Behind the scenes, however, Cameroonian and African football leaders are discussing the… CAN 2021. The Ivorians still have to agree to organize the CAN 2023 and the Guineans that of
2025
.
At the end of January 2019, Côte d'Ivoire nevertheless reluctantly agreed to cede its African Cup to Cameroon.
The “
slippage
”
strategy of
CAF host countries has worked.
Cameroon must now be the scene of a final phase in June-July 2021.
As a sign of confidence, CAF entrusts the organization of the 2020 African Nations Championship (CHAN) to Cameroon, Ethiopia not being ready to welcome it.
The
CHAN 2020
, a less publicized competition with 16 teams, should allow Cameroonians to roam around.
Corn…
Weather controversies
In January 2020, surprise: Cameroon asks CAF that CAN 2021 be brought forward from June-July to January-February.
Cameroonians and football leaders pretend to discover that it is the rainy season in the region, and that it is almost impossible to play a big tournament there in June-July.
Above all, FIFA aims to organize an XXL Club World Cup during this period.
Cameroon therefore has six months less to be ready.
But to believe Ahmad, that's not a problem.
The postponement of CHAN 2020 to April tends to prove the contrary, once again ...
The Covid-19 is hitting the planet
From CHAN in April 2020, there will be no point anyway.
At the end of 2019, a new virus appeared in China: Sars-Cov-2.
The epidemic becomes a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, announces the World Health Organization (WHO).
CHAN is postponed indefinitely, like most sporting events.
It will finally take place from January 16 to February 7, 2021.
The Cameroon team, during the CHAN 2020 at home.
© RFI / Pierre René-Worms
Above all, on June 30, 2020, the decision was taken to postpone the CAN in Cameroon to early 2022. “
Health is the top priority
,” says Ahmad.
The peak of the pandemic has not been reached
”.
►
To (re) listen: Pod'CAN, RFI's podcast to know everything about the African Cup of Nations
New reviews from CAF
The Malagasy does not know it yet, but his mandate will end in confusion.
On November 23, 2020, FIFA announced its suspension for five years, following several ethical breaches.
A sanction finally reduced to two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on March 8, 2021. A few days later, the South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, supported by FIFA, succeeds him as CAF president.
During the following months there was a fluctuation within the African Football Confederation.
Very busy with his business, Motsepe is hardly present.
As for the Swiss-Congolese Véron Mosengo-Omba, appointed Secretary General of the body, he discovers an administration in full overhaul.
Meanwhile, the CAN 2021 projects are not progressing at the expected pace.
In a letter dated November 17, 2021, Mosengo-Omba is annoyed with the Cameroonian authorities and threatens in particular to relocate the opening match if significant progress is not quickly recorded.
►
To (re) listen: BIG REPORT - CAN 2021: welcome to the Lions, roadmap
Rumors and threats
It does not take more to revive the rumors of postponement, relocation to Qatar, or even outright cancellation of the tournament.
For their part,
the European clubs, which employ the best African players
, threaten not to let them go to Cameroon, because of the health context in particular.
An aggressive attitude towards the CAN rarely seen on the part of European football.
On December 15, 2021, CAF publishes a new press release to try to stop the speculation machine.
“
We cannot rest
,” says Véron Mosengo-Omba.
We have to work 24 hours a day. I am not resting, the Organizing Committee cannot rest.
CAF cannot rest.
Everyone must join their efforts.
We want to see a big CAN here in Cameroon in January of next year
”.
After seven years and hundreds of millions of euros spent, the land of the Indomitable Lions is nearing the goal.
Fifty years after the CAN 1972 at home ...
►
To (re) read: CAN 2021: calendar and results of the Africa Cup
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