The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has taken a decision, at its virtually held executive committee, to postpone the staging of the next edition of its premier competition, the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), to be held in Cameroon next year.
The tournament’s finals will now be held in 2022, following the remotely held CAF meeting on Tuesday that was sitting to look at the revision of its calendar following the disruption of sport globally by the spread of the coronavirus.
The decision, CAF announced was influenced by the current global health situation, caused by COVID-19. Despite the change in the date of Afcon, host country, Cameroon still retains the rights to stage the tournament.
CAF also cancelled the 2020 African Women’s Cup of Nations and approved the creation of the first-ever African Women’s Champions League.
This means the continental women’s showpiece, which was slated for November, will not take place.
Last year, CAF expanded the African Women’s Cup of Nations from eight to 12 teams for the 2020 tournament, which was the first change to the format after 11 editions.
Interclubs 2019/20 season: The CAF Champions League and Total CAF Confederation Cup, will resume in September with a Final Four (4) format. Semi-Final matches will be played in a single match.
CAF Champions League: Venue for the semifinals to be decided.
CAF Confederation Cup: Morocco will host the semifinals.
“Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 2020: Due to challenging conditions, the 2020 edition of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations has been cancelled,” CAF said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the CAF Women’s Champions League will be launched next year. The format and other details will be communicated in due course.
Zonal qualifiers for Under-20 and the Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations: A meeting with the organising committee of competitions for Youth Football and the Zonal Unions has been proposed to finalise the arrangements for the zonal qualifiers. And the Under-17 Afcon will be held in July 2021.
