CAF mulls AFCON 2023 postponement

The Super Eagles may have their dreams of claiming a fourth winners medal at the Africa Cup of Nations delayed.

A Le Monde report claimed the Confederation of African Football, CAF, is considering postponing the next edition of the continent’s flagship football championship in Cote d’Ivoire.

The 17th edition of the continental championship, AFCON 2023, was initially scheduled for June 23 to July 23, 2023.

But exactly a year before kick-off, major cities in the West African country are experiencing heavy rains with floods. And CAF is beginning to admit that scheduling the competition in the middle of the rainy season may not necessarily be a bright idea.

“We are considering it; it is one of the possibilities,” CAF Secretary General Veron Mosengo-Omba admitted in an interviewed with Le Monde.

“We asked Ivorian meteorologists to report to us on rainfall history in Cote d’Ivoire in June and July, but also to share their projections with us.”

With the 2022 World Cup billed for November 21 to December 18, 2022, it is impossible to push back the AFCON to January-February 2023.

Obviously, players will not be able to participate in two major tournaments in the space of a few weeks.

The most likely alternative appears to be to postpone the AFCON to January-February 2024.

That is similar to the previous edition, AFCON 2021, in Cameroon, which kicked off earlier this year after the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted initial plans.

The subject is expected to be on the menu of the 44th Ordinary General Assembly of CAF scheduled for August 10 in Arusha, Tanzania.