January 8 – Just two months after assuring Guinea that they were still clear to host the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, African football boss Ahmad Ahmad is at it again with yet another u-turn.
In November Ahmad said the Confederation of African Football “has never questioned the allocation of 2023 AFCON to Guinea” yet now he has conceded that the country will instead stage the event in 2025 because of the domino effect of Cameroon being stripped of this year’s tournament rights and handed 2021 instead.
Speaking on a visit to Guinea on Sunday when he was joined by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Ahmad said Guinea’s President Alpha Condé has agreed to a delay in hosting.
Yet Guinea Football Federation (Feguifoot) president Antonio Souare told the BBC previously they had not been “notified, neither by a letter or a decree” about the proposed two-year delay.
In 2014, CAF awarded Nations Cup hosting rights to Cameroon (2019), Ivory Coast (2021) and Guinea (2023).
After the reported changes to the schedule, Ivory Coast – which is now set to host in 2023 – lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the CAF decision to hand the 2021 tournament to Cameroon.
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