The President of the African Football Confederation (CAF), Ahmad Ahmad, said it was too early to talk about the cancellation of CAN 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, noting that playing that two qualifying rounds for the African Nations of 2021 makes the situation difficult so far.

Addressing exclusively to our channels on the news of world and African football in particular concerning the suspension of football activity on the continent due to the Covid-19 pandemic, President Ahmed Ahmed, President of the African Confederation of football said: “There was no plan to deal with the pandemic, which surprised us completely and did not expect it, which happened with all the other continental federations and the world in general.”

The President of the African Union took over the decisions taken immediately after the virus appeared on the continent, and all the competitions organized by the Caf were suspended, and all the workers of the Continental Union resorted to the work from their homes.

Consultation with local federations

Regarding the African Union strategy and plans to deal with the suspension of tournaments, Ahmad Ahmad said it is now too early to make a final decision in tournaments and football events, stressing that CAF consults with local federations and FIFA to arrive at the ideal tournament decision and find solutions, and by considering whether to postpone, cancel or lead to the 2021 African Nations Championship , the president of CAF explained that the problem is not who will organize the CAN which is good on Cameroon, but in the qualifying matches because he has not yet Only two rounds will have a negative impact on the deadline for countries to qualify for the final.

Ahmad said that most African countries have hitherto relied on airlines in his movements and have so far been arrested so all this must be taken into account, he added that the lack of health and wellness opportunities In many African countries we always have to take precautions and caution and rush to return to competitions.

Ahmad Ahmad said that we cannot yet predict what will happen in the future and the vision is not clear and the health of the players will be a priority for us and we first think about the safety of the players and everyone before thinking about resuming competitions.

In general, we discuss with the Secretariat and the Member States to determine whether this pandemic can continue or not and if this pandemic is eliminated, there will be no problem in completing the various tournaments and qualifying matches.

Cooperation with FIFA

Ahmad Ahmad stressed that CAF has developed an ambitious project in partnership with FIFA from the best to evaluate the course of African football and we thanked FIFA from the bottom of our hearts for that.

“There is an emphasis on administrative development and adjustments for the African football system, which is urgent and we will seek it regardless of the resistance of” enemies of change, “he said. At the same time , he recognized that any change to the Caf code must be ratified by 54 countries, making things somewhat difficult in Africa, but “we are looking to implement good governance and bring about change and development. “.

Ahmad Ahmad claimed the hypothesis that things after the pandemic will not be as before, but stressed that football is football whose passion never changes, and football will not die regardless of the pandemic, the fans, children and everyone will play football regardless of the circumstances, stressing that the movement of solidarity between peoples will confirm that football can unite everyone, but stressed that clear health standards must be respected during matches .

CAF President concluded by stressing that football will not die regardless of the pandemic and sent a message to all workers in the African football sector asking them to respect health standards to stop the spread of this virus and get out of the crisis.