The future of Africa’s football competitions will be decided today (Tuesday) when top officials the Confederation of African Football (CAF) meet to discuss how to resume their competitions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
All of the continent’s competitions have been left in limbo following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic that ravaged sports competitions across the globe and lockdown of countries.
Africa’s governing body was left with no option than to indefinitely postpone its competitions in March in the wake of the pandemic that has caused the deaths of more than 500,000 people.
With some countries beginning to open up and many leagues slowly restarting, CAF has lined up its top officials to meet to decide the future of its competitions.
CAF’s executive committee will meet in an online conference today to decide what to do with Africa’s flagship football competition which is the Africa Cup of Nations.
FIFA’s decision on Thursday to cancel September’s window for national team matches in all regions, except Europe and South America, has left CAF with fewer dates to try and complete the competition’s qualifying campaign and the finalize the field for the 24-team tournament.
There is also a decision to be made on the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) which should have been held in April in Cameroon.
A decision must be made whether to cancel the tournament hosted every two years for quasi national teams made up of home-based players only.
A decision must also be made on the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations, scheduled for November but with qualification also far from complete, its future will also be discussed.
The Exco must also set out a possible process for completing this season’s two continental club competitions.
The African Champions League and African Confederation Cup were suspended at the semi-final stage.
The body will have to come up with a creative plan to finish the competitions with borders mostly shut, flights suspended and football stopped across the continent because of the pandemic.