The Confederation of African Football,CAF, has announced the postponement of the Africa Cup of Nations.
The CAF Africa Nations Cu originally meant to take place between January and February 2021 to 2022.
The AFCON 2021 postponement is top on the list of other decisions agreed upon during the CAF Executive Committee meeting held via zoom conferencing on Tuesday.
With just two of the six qualifying rounds played, CAF deemed it unrealistic given the current situation to have the remaining qualification phase and have the biennial tournament in January next year.
The predicted CAF decision follows UEFA’s decision to move the 2020 European Championship to next year, and CONMEBOL’s decision to delay the 2020 Copa America to 2021 too.
The coronavirus pandemic across the world has disrupted the sporting calendar with top events including the Tokyo Olympic Games postponed while others were outrightly cancelled.
Nigeria is hoping to win the next AFCON tournament and has expressly told the country’s national team coach Gernot Rohr to do so or risk losing his job. The target is contained in Rohr’s new two-and-a-half-year contract.
Apart from announcing the AFCON 2021 postponement, CAF’s executive committee also confirmed that African Nations Championship (CHAN) has been moved to next year.
The CHAN tournament is meant for players plying their trade in their country’s respective domestic league.
