CAF is holding on.

Summoned by Fifa and Gianni Infantino in person to postpone or cancel the African Cup of Nations scheduled for January 9 to February 6, its president was reassuring Monday, December 20 during a visit to Cameroon.

After a visit to the Olembe stadium, the stadium on the outskirts of Yaoundé which is to host the opening match and the final but whose delivery has been repeatedly delayed, the president of CAF gave an unambiguous speech :

"We will all be present in Cameroon in a few weeks, launched the South African leader, more relaxed and verbose than when he arrived in Yaoundé. I am so proud of the work carried out. We can see the scale of the commitments. taken so that the problems raised in recent days are resolved, "he said.

Summoned by a journalist to specify that these "few weeks" are indeed the dates planned, the South African, in office since March 2020, went further:

"I will meet you on January 9th. I will be there from the 7th with my wife and my children, because we are all Cameroonians! (…) So if I am there from the 7th, everyone must be there. on the 7th, for the kick-off of the event on the 9th ", he invited.

"Our generation must be the one that believes in Africans"

In direct response to criticism from European clubs who believe that the African Cup cannot take place due to sanitary conditions and who threaten not to release their players, Patrice Motsepe defended African football:

"Our generation must be the one who believes in Africans. We can organize a football competition as qualitative as that organized in Europe and elsewhere in the world," he said.

"We have to believe in ourselves, we have to stop being negative and skeptical about our own abilities. Sometimes we are overly critical of ourselves. If we ourselves do not trust Africans, who will trust them? ".

The president of CAF must now meet the president of Cameroon Paul Biya on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming competition.

The members of the executive committee of CAF will then meet, on the sidelines of the African Super Cup organized on December 22 in Doha, to review an update after Motsepe's visit to Yaoundé.

And probably definitively act on the maintenance of the great celebration of African football.

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