Moroccan Abdel-Moneim Ba, Acting Secretary-General of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), confirmed that there is no intention to cancel the Confederation's Champions League and Cup competitions, after they were postponed indefinitely on Saturday due to the outbreak of the new Coruna virus.
"We hope that this crisis will end as soon as the African competitions are completed," Ba said in televised Sunday. "We do not want to cancel any competition, but we will try to postpone it until the players are secured."
"We are in constant contact with the World Health Organization, and when we decided to postpone the African Nations Championship for local players that was scheduled for this April in Cameroon, we were in contact with them," he added.
"We are following all precautionary instructions to combat the Corona virus, it is early for the scheme to return the competitions, but the situation is to postpone all the competitions," said Ba, who was appointed by the beginning of last March by proxy to succeed his countryman Moaz Haji, who resigned from his post for personal reasons.
The semi-finals of the Champions League were scheduled to take place on the first of May, back and forth from the second leg, between Raja Casablanca and the Egyptian club Zamalek on the one hand, and the Moroccan club Casablanca and the Egyptian club Al-Ahly on the other.
As for the semi-finals of the Federation Cup, it was scheduled on the third of May in the back and the tenth of it back, and combines the renaissance of Berkane and Hassania Agadir of the Moroccans on the one hand, and the Egyptian Pyramids and Horia Conakry of Guinea on the other.
Regarding the proposed dates for the resumption of the semi-final clashes of the Champions League and Federation Cup competitions, Ba said, "We are fortunate that we are about to finish the two competitions, and we hope that the crisis will have passed by the coming summer, and that the date by which the two competitions will be completed will be determined according to the development of matters." ".
He pointed out that the return of the matches "will be in mid-June or July and in the worst of things will be in August, but in all cases the two competitions will not be canceled and they will be completed."
The African Confederation chose the Cameroonian city of Douala (the new Gaboma stadium) to host the final of the Champions League, and Rabat (Prince Moulay Abdullah Stadium) for the Federation Cup final (Confederation).
This will be the first season in which the two competitions conclude with one final match instead of a round trip round, according to a decision taken by the continental union in the summer of last year.
On the other hand, Ba stressed that "if the crisis of the spread of the Corona Virus continues, we will have no choice but to postpone the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon, scheduled for January and February in Cameroon," noting that this timing was chosen by Cameroon officials due to the poor climate in summer in their country.
"And if Cameroon was in the best condition without the Corona virus, the situation would be complicated as well, and if one or two countries apologize, it will be easy to compensate for them, but with this pandemic it will be difficult to complete."
He pointed out that the next versions of the African Cup of Nations will be on schedule, which is June and July, and that the establishment of the next edition in the winter is "an exception only."
Ba revealed that CAF did not force any union to extend players ’contracts due to the emerging crisis of the Corona virus, and each association works according to what it sees as“ the most suitable for it. ”He added,“ We are moving according to the European Football Association regarding the players ’contracts. Someone with something. "
And concluded that the city of Sharm El-Sheikh will host the African Union ceremony to choose the best next season, after the great success achieved by the last ceremony, which was held in Hurghada.