It has almost become a rule. No longer does a final phase of the African Cup of Nations (CAN) escape the risk of postponement or relocation. In 2013, the war in Libya moved the event to South Africa. Two years later, in 2015, the Ebola epidemic had led Equatorial Guinea to replace Morocco as host countryand, in 2019, Egypt finally hosted the AFCON instead of Cameroon because of the delay in the works. The country was finally able to host the 2021 edition, but in January and February 2022.
The next AFCON will take place in Ivory Coast, in theory in June and July 2023. But for meteorological reasons, it is not impossible for the final phase to be postponed by a few months, during the dry season. If nothing seems to prevent the country from hosting the tournament for the second time in its history, after 1984, the question pose now openly for Guinea.
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Stadiums that are no longer up to standard
Conakry had been chosen in September 2014, but to host a CAN with sixteen selections. However, since a decision taken in July 2017 by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), then chaired by Malagasy Ahmad Ahmadthe format has changed: the final phases have now been played at 24 since 2019. The specifications have also changed: six stadiums – two with 15,000 seats, two with 20,000 seats and two with at least 40,000 seats – are needed today.
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Guinea: the barons of football
Guinea has chosen the sites of Conakry, Labé, Boké, N’Zérékoré, Kindia and Kankan – the capital housing two enclosures, including the General Lansana Conté stadium, built in 2011. But the latter is already no longer up to the standards of CAF to host international matches, due to the defects noted in the lighting, the stand reserved for opposing supporters or even the sanitary facilities. The September 28 stadium, the main enclosure of the capital, also raises concerns. To the extent that the millionaire Kerfalla Person CamaraCEO of the Guicopres company, president of the Hafia FC club and second vice-president of the CAN Organizing Committee (COCAN), said he was ready to take charge of the necessary work, so that Guinea could welcome Ethiopia next September, as part of the qualifications for CAN 2023…
Inspection
However, it is not certain that the good will of Kerfalla Person Camara, says KPC, is enough to reassure CAF. A delegation from the organization, led by the Mauritanian Ahmed Ould Yahya, vice-president of the body, carried out an inspection visit to Guinea from June 10 to 15. The report should be presented at the next CAF executive committee on July 3.
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At the highest peak of the Guinean state, the latest statements are intended to be optimistic. « The organization of the CAN is a priority for our country”, thus declared last April Prime Minister Mohamed Beavogui. But Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya, President of the Transitional Council, asked Lansana Béa Diallo, Minister of Sports and President of COCAN, “to think about the feasibility of organizing the CAN. To date, many works have not yet started, even if the companies responsible for carrying them out have been chosen and certified. “In some cases, we still have to find the financing model”, blows a close friend of COCAN.
“No CAN in Guinea before 2050”
In Cairo, the CAF is closely following the evolution of the file. The organization of CAN 2025 by Guinea is not officially called into question. But among the members of the authority, some do not hide their skepticism. “It seems difficult to imagine that Guinea could be ready in two and a half years. A lot of work has been delayed. We are awaiting the report of the last inspection mission. And if, in the coming months, CAF considers that the deadlines are not tenable, it will make a decision soon enough, ”said an executive of the organization.
In the meantime, several hypotheses are making their way. Among these, a co-organization of the tournament with Senegal – which the former Minister of Sports Bantama Sow had however rejected in 2019 -, or even relocation to another country. Several states are mentioned, such as Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria. “These rumors are only binding on those who spread them, cuts Kerfalla Person Camara. We are working to have everything ready on schedule, and if CAN 2023 is postponed by a few months, as in question, that would give us a little more time to finish all the work. As an entrepreneur, I tell you that yes, there is a lot of work, but that the necessary work can be done in two years. ” An optimism that does not share a figure of Guinean football, who, in remarks tinged with irony and with a touch of exaggeration that anonymity allows him, does not imagine his country “organizing a CAN before 2050… »
