The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has clarified that a final verdict on Ghana’s ability to host the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations will be passed later in September.
This comes after the president of the continent’s football governing body, Ahmad Ahmad, was quoted in a news report as saying that his outfit was already looking out for a replacement for the West African country.
Ghana’s readiness to host the biennial women’s football championship has been in doubt in the past few months as works on the training and match facilities at the designated venues – Accra and Cape Coast – looked to have been behind schedule.
Caf’s inspection team, had expressed misgivings to the Ghana officials in their last visit, prompting the Sports Minister to seek audience with President Ahmad where he gave assurances and also suggested alternative host venues for the Women’s Afcon.
But following the media reports which indicated that Ghana has already been stripped of the hosting rights, Caf, in a statement late Monday said its Women’s Football Organising Committee will discuss the Ghana situation at a September 12 meeting after which the Executive Committee decides to put a seal of approval on Ghana or not.
“Following recent media reports, the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) authoritatively confirms that there has been no decision regarding the hosting rights of the Total Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2018 scheduled for 17 November to 1 December.
“The subject will be discussed at the next meeting of the Organising Committee for Women’s Football to be held in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday, 12 September 2018. The report of the last inspection visit is among items on the agenda.
“The final decision will be taken by the CAF Executive Committee at its meeting on 27-28 September 2018 in Egypt,” the statement read in full.
Algeria, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa, Mali, Equatorial Guinea and Zambia have qualified to join hosts Ghana for the tournament.
- SportsAfric
