Cameroon Pulls out to Host CAF Championship due Coronavirus Outbreak
Egypt and Tunisia have both said they are welled prepared and ready to host the semi-finals and final of this year’s (CAF) African Champions League. The Confederation of African Football (Caf) is looking to replace Cameroon who on Monday withdrew from hosting the matches due to the rise of the global pandemic coronavirus in their country. The Tunisia Football Federation (FTF) insists it should be hosting the games, which are scheduled to be played in September.
The Tunisia Football Federation (FTF) said: “When Caf first sent the call for countries to host the matches, we applied alongside Cameroon,” “It should be the standard procedure that we would be next in line, should Cameroon fall short on their commitments. “We are prepared and willing to host the matches if we receive a request from Caf. “The only thing left for us to do would be to coordinate with local authorities on organisational matters.”
Also, Egypt Football Association has also indicated an interest in hosting the games, according to Mohamed Fadl a member of the Egypt Football Association he said: “I talked with Ashraf Sobhi, the sports and youth minister, who stressed Egypt’s readiness to host such a major event.” “We have already done for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations and the under-23’s.” He also said: “We seek to help both Ahly and Zamalek in the Champions League by hosting the remaining games in Egypt.”
The semi-finals are both set to be Morocco playing against Egypt as Al Ahly play Wydad Casablanca and Zamalek take on Raja Casablanca, all the games are come up in September. Before the postponement of sport around the globe, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the semi-finals were set to be played over two legs home and away with the final a one-off match on neutral territory for the first time ever.
But, recently Caf executive committee decided that the Champions League and the Confederation Cup will resume in September in a final four format and the semi-finals reduced to a single match. The Confederation Cup matches will be played in Morocco and no more Cameroon because of the global pandemic coronavirus.
