The Confederation of
African Football (CAF) has postponed the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON)
qualifiers until further notice due to coronavirus outbreak.
The decision was
reached during an emergency meeting of CAF executives on Friday.
The confederation
said the decision was aimed to protect the health and safety of stakeholders
including players, sponsors, match officials and broadcasters.
The matches were
earlier scheduled to hold between March 25 and March 31 across various
countries in the continent.
“Following the
growing concern of the COVID-19 virus and the latest declaration of the World
Health Organization (WHO) describing it as a pandemic. CAF emergency committee
has decided to postpone the following matches until further notice,” the
statement read.
“Total AFCON 2021
Qualifiers: Match days 3 and 4 of the qualifiers initially scheduled from 25th
to 31st March.
“FIFA Women U-20
World Cup Qualifiers: Initially scheduled from 20-22 March and 27-
29 March.
“Total Women AFCON
2020 Qualifiers: Initially scheduled from 8th to 14th April.
“CAF shall announce
the new program in due time. Concerning the Total African Nations Championship
(CHAN 2020) scheduled in Cameroon from 4th to 25th April, a delegation from the
CAF Medical Committee is scheduled to visit Cameroon from 14-15 March 2020.
“The purpose of this
mission is to assess all the preventive measures taken by the Local Organizing
Committee, a decision will be taken after the inspection visit.
“On the other hand,
CAF has also decided to postpone the Match Commissioners Workshop
scheduled for the
19th & 20th March until further notice.
“We would like to
assure you that CAF is monitoring the situation closely and working with the
competent authorities such as the WHO on the impact of the virus in the
continent and CAF Competitions.”
The Super Eagles of
Nigeria were scheduled to play Sierra Leone in a double header clash on March
27 in Asaba before traveling to take them away four days after.
Since its outbreak
in China in December, the virus has killed about 5,000 persons, with at least
134,000 infected.
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