CAF
President .Ahmad Ahmad, has moved swiftly to fulfill the promises made ahead of
March’s elections, one of them is to take a closer look at the Africa Cup of
Nations calendar and to find ways of expanding the revenue base of the
Confederation of African Football and its member associations.
These
issues, among many others, have been discussed this week at the Caf Symposium
in Rabat, Morocco, where the biggest changes to African football in decades
would be ratified. By the time the continent’s football chiefs arise from the
Extra-Ordinary General Assembly on Friday, we might have a 24-team Afcon, a
shift from January/February to June/July and a reworking of the majority of the
continent’s domestic football calendars to mirror the European season of August
to May.
Is
this change really good for African football?
It
is about more money, which is why is Caf making all these changes. Nigeria
Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick said: “It will increase revenue for
Caf and we can triple our income. It will also force more infrastructure
development,” a tad bit too optimistic even as many countries, including
Nigeria, have cut down spending on sport and other leisure activities due to a
fall in oil prices amidst an economic recession.
Cameroon
is already falling behind schedule on its plan to deliver infrastructure for
the 2019 Afcon, with talk that Morocco could step in after their 2015 plans
were thrown overboard by the Ebola fever scare that gripped the continent.
But
a summer tournament will make African players more attractive to European clubs
who will no longer worry about losing their stars for upwards of six weeks
every two years in the middle of hot campaigns.
There
has been special joy among Liverpool fans who saw their Premier League title
chase falter due to the going away of Sadio Mane last January. The Kops have
also added the Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah to their ranks this transfer
window, so there is truly cause for joy.
The
Rational Behind the Changes
One
cannot fault the thinking that has gone into these deliberations. The new guys
at the helm of Caf are trying to implement populist ideas that have been
bandied around African football for years but stone-walled by former president
Issa Hayatou.
The
Cameroonian tried to protect the continent with his resoluteness about the
tournament remaining in January, a time when many sub-Saharan African countries
enjoy the dry weather as against the middle of the year when the heavens
unleash their reservoirs upon the land, turning football matches into water
polo.
Still,
Africa needs to align itself with the world of football as long as the bulk of
its star footballers play in European leagues. It is not good to jeopardise the
careers of these boys who risk losing their places in their clubs every time
they come to defend their countries’ colours at the Afcon.
However,
one of the snags has to be the expansion of the tournament to 24 teams. This brings
with it massive economic and infrastructure requirements – stadia, hotels,
transportation – that many countries on the continent will not be able to
afford.
It
will bring about infrastructure development and African countries more
preparedness to host bigger competitions like the world cup
So
co-hosting could be the future for a 24-team event.
