Kinshasa, march 14th, 2023 (CPA).- The president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Patrice Motsepe has given up his wish to unveil the name of the host country of the African Cup of Nations (CAN) 2025, during the congress of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) scheduled for March 14th to 16th in Kigali, Rwanda, reports the magazine « Jeune Afrique » in a tweet.
« A new twist in the announcement of the name of the host country of the 2025 African Cup of Nations, initially scheduled for February. While this hypothesis was strongly favoured, Patrice Motsepe finally decided not to unveil it in Kigali on March 16th At the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the option held sway for several weeks.
In informal conversations, many African football players were seriously considering it. But in the end, the name of the host country of the 2025 African Cup of Nations will not be announced at the FIFA Congress on March 16th in Kigali. The idea was to take advantage of the crowds at the re-election of Gianni Infantino to convene the executive committee of CAF, which must decide between Algeria, Morocco, Zambia and the Nigeria-Benin duo. Except that it was finally abandoned for several reasons, » wrote Jeune Afrique.
According to sources, CAF is still waiting for the inspection reports of the independent audit firm in charge of inspecting the candidate countries including South Africa, Algeria, Morocco, Zambia and the Benin-Nigeria duo. In addition, King Mohammed VI, according to the congress programme, is to be decorated by the pan-African body on March 14th in Kigali for his « contribution to African football ».
« Thus, proceeding with this announcement at the same time of the choice of the host country, especially if it were to be Morocco, would give too much the impression that the dice are loaded in favour of the Cherifian Kingdom, better established in the backstage of the continental football body and presented as a favourite in recent weeks, « reports Afrikafoot.
The general assembly of Cotonou, ideal place
« CAF could make its announcement on July 13th during its general assembly scheduled in Cotonou, Benin. It expects that diplomatic tensions between Algeria and Morocco would calm down by then and make this file a little less sensitive, » the source added.
Last month, the president of the African football governing body, Patrice Motsepe, had calmed the game on this subject and assured that the body had no deadline to make public the identity of the host country.
As a reminder, since October 2022, CAF withdrew the organization of the CAN 2025 to Guinea-Conakry and should communicate the name of the next lucky one who would host the 35th edition of this African football festival.
CPA/
