January 11 – The Confederation of African football CAF has sent an inspection team to Cameroon to assess the preparations for the 2019 African Cup of Nations. In the past CAF president Ahmad Ahmad has repeatedly cast doubt over Cameroon’s credentials to stage the tournament.
Cameroon are slated to host Africa’s prime football tournament in 2019, but ever since Ahmad became the president of CAF, ousting football autocrat Issa Hayatou, he has cast doubt over Cameroon’s suitability to host the next African Cup of Nations. For the first time, the tournament will have 24 participants.
Perhaps Ahmad is just intent on demonstrating his power to get another one over Hayatou and take the tournament away from his predecessor’s home turf. Hayatou hails from Cameroon. In the past Ahmad has repeatedly warned the Cameroonians that they are skating on thin ice.
“Cameroon will have to work to convince CAF on its ability to host the event,” said Ahmad last August. In December he fired another warning shot at Cameroon saying that: “If the host country is unable to organise it, we will find a country that will organise it.”
Cameroon has always remained adamant that they can stage the tournament in spite of the expanded format, and preparations were stepped up last year by shipping in stadium components and components for the training complexes, but on Thursday an inspection team arrived in Cameroon to evaluate the preparations in the country.
The visit was due to take place in August, but audit firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers withdrew at short notice without specifying the reason for their withdrawal. Business management consultancy Roland Berger have replaced PwC as independent assessors and will perform on the ground inspections to check Cameroon’s readiness.
The German consultants will specifically make a technical assessment of Cameroon’s critical infrastructure and logistics, assess the host country’s macroeconomic absorption capacity and prepare a report of their observations and present its findings to all the involved stakeholders. A key criterion will be the difference between Cameroon’s current preparations and set-up and CAF’s requirements for the tournament. Last July CAF moved the timing of the final tournament from January/February to June and July.
Insepction team schedule:
▪ 12 and 13 January in Yaounde
▪ 14 and 15 January in Garoua
▪ 16 and 17 January in Bafoussam
▪ 18 and 19 January in Douala
▪ 20 and 21 January in Limbe and Buea
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