CAN in Cameroon: "On January 9, we will kick off"

The president of the African Football Confederation, Patrice Motsepe, during the draw for the groups of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations, on August 17 in Yaoundé Daniel Beloumou Olomo AFP

Text by: David Kalfa Follow

3 min

Patrice Motsepe, the president of the African Football Confederation (CAF), confirmed this December 21, 2021 in Yaoundé, after a meeting with Paul Biya, that the African Cup of Nations (CAN) in Cameroon will begin well on January 9, 2022 as expected, despite the spread of the Omicron variant and pressure from European clubs.

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“ 

On January 9, we'll kick off. 

"This December 21, 2021 in Yaoundé, Patrice Motsepe, the president of the African Football Confederation (

CAF

), wanted to put an end

to the little remaining suspense

concerning the maintenance of the next African Cup of Nations (

CAN

) on the dates planned (January 9 to February 6, 2022).

After a meeting with Paul Biya, the South African visibly obtained the guarantees he hoped for, especially in terms of health precautions. “ 

I had a very fruitful meeting with the President of Cameroon. The most important is his commitment. During yesterday's meeting, I was a little more concerned

, said Patrice Mostepe, at the microphone of Joël Wadem.

Yesterday, we talked about infrastructure, facilities. A very good job has been done to ensure that we will host a CAN next year in Cameroon which will make the Cameroonian people proud, as well as the African people as a whole. Today's goal was to focus more on Omicron because Omicron is a big global challenge

 ”.

Asked about the risk posed by this new variant of Covid-19 during the African Cup of Nations, the billionaire replied: " 

Look at what just happened during the Arab Cup in Qatar: there were thousands spectators in the stands.

I also went to Wembley to see the final of Euro 2021.

 "He added, about the spectators who will have to present a complete vaccination schedule and a negative test to attend the matches of the

CAN 2021

 :" 

Of course, we fears that there are a lot of fake tests going around.

But we'll take care of those issues. 

"

► To (re) read: Foot: the incredible soap opera of the CAN in Cameroon

"Africa cannot always go last and be behind"

Finally,

on the pressure of European clubs

, who threaten not to let their African players go to Cameroon, Patrice Motsepe was appeasing: " 

We want our African players to evolve in Europe, that they succeed and that they play around the world. But we also want to build African football so that it becomes a center of global excellence. We are therefore going to engage with all the clubs. In addition, we are guided by FIFA rules

[which prevent clubs from retaining a player called up for the national team for an official competition, Editor's note]

. This is very important because we cannot always allow Africa to go last and be in tow. 

"

The boss of African football will now return to Doha to attend the African Super Cup scheduled between Al Ahly and Raja Casablanca on December 22.

Then he will make a debriefing to the members of the Executive Committee of CAF of what he saw in Cameroon during his two-day visit ...

► To (re) read: Foot: the boss of Fifa pleads for a CAN in autumn, in the future

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