By Osasu Obayiuwana
February 26 – Repairs being done to the Amahoro Stadium in Kigali will knock out Rwanda from staging May’s CAF Champions’ League final.
FERWAFA, Rwanda’s Football Federation, is expected to release a statement on the matter, after notifying CAF of its decision.
Ahmad, the CAF President (pictured left), accompanied by Omari Constant (pictured right), the organisation’s first vice-president, as well as Samuel Eto’o, the former Cameroon and Barcelona striker, who is his adviser, were recently in Kigali to inspect the Amahoro Stadium.
They also met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame (pictured centre). But Kagame’s presidential office was silent on the visit of the CAF delegation.
This year’s CAF Champions’ League final will be the first to be staged as a single game, supposedly at a neutral venue, after the debacle of last year’s final in Tunis.
Moroccan side Wydad Casablanca abandoned the game at Rades Stadium, against eventual champions Esperance of Tunis, after their second-half goal was disallowed by Gambian Referee Papa Bakary Gassama.
Morocco and Tunisia are said to have bid to host the CAF finals.
But with both countries likely to produce finalists, it remains to be seen how CAF can stage matches there without avoiding the very problem that the new format intends to solve.
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