By Rédaction Africanews with AFP
The President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) was in Guinea on Friday (September 30) as questions persist about the country’s ability to host the African Cup of Nations as planned in 2025, a Guinean sports official said.
Motsepe was due to meet the leader of the junta Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, from 3.30pm local time (and GMT) before leaving in the evening, according to the programme of the visit communicated by the Guinean federation.
Beforehand, he worked with Guinean football leaders in preparation for his meeting with Colonel Doumbouya, Thierno Saidou Diakite, a member of the organising committee, told an AFP correspondent.
Motsepe’s visit follows one in early September by a CAF mission to check on the progress of the project.
This visit has raised strong speculations on the possibility of a withdrawal of the organization to Guinea.
The mission had suggested the possibility of a postponement to 2026 or 2027, but Colonel Doumbouya had dismissed this hypothesis and had committed that the competition would take place in Guinea in 2025, reported the Minister of Sports Lansana Béa Diallo.
The president of CAF will hold a press conference in Algiers on Saturday at 13:00 local time (12:00 GMT) after the meeting of the executive committee of the organization, the latter said in a statement.
The organisation of the CAN will be a challenge for a poor country like Guinea which cruelly lacks infrastructure, whether it is sports facilities or transport.
In March, Colonel Doumbouya appointed a new organising committee, ousting the previous team, one of whose members publicly expressed doubts about the feasibility of the project.
He issued a decree declaring the organisation of the 2025 CAN “of national interest and priority”.
– africanews.com
