AFCON
Moroccans can host CAN 2025
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Coupe d’Afrique des nations (CAN) is what the Moroccans call the Africa Cup of Nations.
The kingdom has put up more interest in hosting the competition than any other bidding country has done, even as CAF has indefinitely and quietly shifted the announcement of the host for the competition that is expected to return to the original odd year calendar.
In terms of facility and infrastructure as well as generation of public interest in the continental prime sports competition, no bidding nation has done as much as Morocco have done.
The North African kingdom has been the ultimate destination for the hosting of top-notch sporting events, especially football. Most African countries without approved arenas have found the kingdom the ultimate destination as there are facilities are always on ready mode.
Within few weeks last December of being designated as hosts of the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup, Morocco hosted one of the seamless tournaments in which all participating clubs felt at home.
Carlo Ancelotti, the Real Madrid coach also commended the atmosphere occasioned in Morocco.
“We have had a fantastic atmosphere. The people and the fans have respected us. We are delighted to be here. We leave very happy”, remarked the famous Italian coach who achieved his ninth title with Real Madrid.
It was the third time that Morocco played host to the elite club competition. In the period of the last Club World Cup, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) also played hosts to over 150 journalists across Africa.
They stayed for 10 days.
“We saw how the Club World Cup was perfectly organised, while Morocco only had a month to prepare. If the Kingdom managed all that in such a short time, it means that they can still do more if allowed to organize a CAN in 2025”, declared Wahany Johnson Sambou, a Senegalese journalist correspondent for Africanews in Senegal.
He adds that “everyone was amazed by what we saw here. We were able to see the six stadiums approved by CAF and FIFA.
Another Senegalese journalist, Mouhamed Coulibaly, living in Morocco as a freelance since 2019 spoke in similar vein.
“I had the chance to visit several sports facilities in Morocco in the cities of Tangier, Casablanca, Maâmora (Salé), Rabat, Marrakech, El Jadida, Agadir, among others. From what I have seen, Morocco is even capable of organizing a World Cup”, he remarked.
He sees as an advantage, the fact that Morocco has been a home to many teams outside the kingdom.
Next month, Guinea Bissau will host Nigeria in Agadir in one of the qualifiers for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. It was at the same Grand Stade d’Agadir that the Nigeria Super Eagles last year had their famous 10-0 defeat of Sao Tome and Principe.
Within the same March 2023, a near feast of African football will be holding in Morocco. Six countries will converge in Morocco for part of the qualifiers of the 2023 edition
It is the biggest assembly for the qualifiers. Those to play in Morocco are Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso, Gambia and Mali.
Information from the Morocco’s Royal Football Federation (FRMF) has it that the federation has approved African football federations’ request to host AFCON 2024 qualifying matches in Morocco.
“In response to a request from a number of African football federations, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation agreed to host three matches in Morocco in March” as a part of the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, the FRMF said in a statement
This is in addition to Morocco playing a friendly match with Brazil in Tangier as their original Africa Cup of Nations’ qualifying fixture with Zimbabwe has been cancelled owing to the disqualification of the latter occasioned by FIFA ban.
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.
This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.
Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.
His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.
Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.
The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.
He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.
According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,
After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.
Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.
Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.
“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.
He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”
Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.
“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.
The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.
Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.
Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.
Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations
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