Cameroon's hosting Rights threatened as COSAFA protest attribution of 2019, 2021, 2023 AFCON

In the wake of the election of one of their own‚ Ahmad Ahmad‚ as Caf president in Ethiopia last month‚ breaking a 28-year reign by Cameroonian Issa Hayatou‚ the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations is asking for a fairer seat at Africa’s football table.

These were issues discussed by Cosafa in Johannesburg this week at a meeting attended by former Madagascar sports minister Ahmad.

SA Football Association president Danny Jordaan‚ elected to the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee in Addis Ababa‚ said Cosafa will look for for a level playing field from Caf‚ previously seen as being dominated on policy by West Africa.

“I think when we discuss as Cosafa‚ under the leadership of our president‚ Mr Phillip Chiyangwa‚ it’s to celebrate the unity in Cosafa as a first step‚” Jordaan said.


“One of the obvious things that were raised was that Cosafa was not a major player in Africa football.

“Out of 290 members serving on Caf committees only 29 came from Cosafa. Out of the competitions allocated‚ and you may have seen the Afcon‚ 2015 was in Equatorial Guinea‚ 2017 in Gabon‚ 2019 (will be in) in Cameroon‚ 2021 Ivory Coast and 2023 Guinea.

“All of those have been allocated to a particular region on the continent (West Africa). Even the junior competitions have been allocated on that basis.

COSAFA has therefore decided to see clearly into how these competitions were awarded and has asked TAS to open investigations. The body believes that CAF under Hayatou paid more attention to Francophone west African countries than other areas on the continent and so the attribution of the tournaments was not fair.

Football officials in Cameroon have described the protest as witch hunting on former CAF President Issa Hayatou and are condemning the action.

The protest comes at a time when Cameroon is already on course with the construction of two stadia in Yaounde and Douala, a dual motor way linking the country's two major cities and ongoing works in the economic capital Douala. Though the projects are still making baby steps.

Observers say Cameroon could suffer huge financial losses if stripped off the hosting rights of the AFCON 2019 as projects funded by loans from abroad could become redundant.