At its meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on 27- 28 September 2018, the CAF Executive Committee, chaired by CAF President Ahmad Ahmad, took the following decisions:
I. Regarding the Total Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2019, the delegation for the last inspection visit reported on the progress of works. A visual report revealed a significant delay as far as the delivery of infrastructures is concerned.
a. The final decision will be taken in late November after the last inspection visit which will involve audit firm Roland Berger.
b. Beforehand, a joint CAF and FIFA Committee will travel to Cameroon in October to study security issues.
c. The Total Africa Cup of Nations with its new-24 team format will be held from 15 June to 13 July 2019.
II. The schedule of other upcoming CAF competitions has been validated as follows
a. Total Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2021
A report of the inspection visit last July showed the progress of works. Of the six stadiums required for the competition, four are to be built and two are undergoing major renovations. For accommodation, three out of five cities do not have the required infrastructure.
b. Total African Nations Championship, Ethiopia 2020
i. Following the initial inspection in April 2018, the CAF delegation recommended stadiums inspection mission at the end of October 2018 to ensure that the prerequisites are met.
ii. The dates of the final tournament will be discussed with the Ethiopian authorities due of meetings of the African Union scheduled at the same time.
c. Total U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt 2019
Final tournament date: 8 – 22 November 2019
d. Total U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, Niger 2019
The President of Niger has confirmed his commitment towards the preparations for the competition, during a meeting with CAF President Ahmad Ahmad last September.
i. Final tournament date : 2 – 17 February 2019
ii. Qualified teams : Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Niger
e. Total U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, Tanzania 2019
On behalf of the Tanzanian Government, the Prime Minister reaffirmed to CAF President Ahmad Ahmad their willingness to host the tournament and pledged efforts towards a successful event.
i. Final tournament date : 14 – 28 April 2019
ii. Qualified teams: Angola, Cameroon, Guinea, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal and Tanzania
iii. Final Draw: 20 December 2018 in Tanzania
iv. During the zonal qualifiers, UEFA was involved financially and technically. UEFA technicians were present at all the competitions and worked hand-in-hand with their CAF counterparts. The aim of zonal qualifications is long-term development.
v. The MRI tests conducted during the zonal tournaments gave the tournament more credibility.
f. Total Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, Ghana 2018
i. Final tournament: 17 November – 1 December 2018
ii. Qualified teams : Algeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Ghana
iii. The CAF Secretariat will closely monitor the progress of preparations.
g. Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt 2018
i. Final tournament : 8 – 14 December 2018
ii. Qualified teams: Cote d’Ivoire, Libya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Egypt
h. Youth Olympic Games, Buenos Aires 2018
Futsal was chosen by FIFA as the football discipline for the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
i. Final tournament: 7 – 18 October 2018
ii. Qualified teams: Egypt for the men’s tournament and Cameroon for women.
III. Proposal to improve the stadia hosting CAF competitions
A project to assist the federations in upgrading the stadiums has been adopted. The committee will present a detailed proposal at the next meeting of the Executive Committee.
IV. Centralization of rights for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers
The rights for qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will not be centralized by CAF. Each federation will be free to look for its own sponsors. CAF will be able to support the member associations in their research.
V. Validation of the zonal statutes
Five out of the six CAF zones have adopted the statutes proposed by CAF at their last Extraordinary General Assemblies. Only COSAFA did not approve the statutes.
A final version of the statutes, taking into account the amendments proposed by the zones, will be presented to the Executive Committee at the next meeting by the committee in charge of drafting the statutes.
The zonal statutes concretize the CAF’s desire for decentralization, especially for development.
VI. Chronogram of development activities
The Executive Committee approved the program of development activities for 2018-2019: the revival of the CAF Coaching license, Refereeing, Medical, Clubs Licensing and the General Secretaries Academy.
VII. Preparation for the CAF Awards 2018 ceremony
a. Date : 8 january 2019
b. Venue : Abdou Diouf International Conference Centre in Dakar, Senegal
c. A first meeting was held on 18 September 2018 between CAF and the Senegalese Minister of Sports. Other preparatory meetings will be held monthly in Dakar.
VIII. CAF Trophies
Following the recognition of the diversity of trophies for the same award, a new trophy for the African Player of the Year has been adopted. The Women’s Player of the Year will also receive a new trophy.
Meanwhile, all previous winners will receive the new trophy at the next CAF Awards ceremony.
IX. Proposal for the appointment of the new auditing body
After a call for tenders for the appointment of a new auditor, ‘Ernst & Young’ was selected.
The proposal will be submitted to the Extraordinary General Assembly on 30 September 2018 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
X. Designation of host countries for upcoming competitions
a. Total Women’s AFCON 2020 : Congo
b. Futsal AFCON 2020 : Morocco
c. Total U-20 AFCON 2021 : Mauritania
d. Total U-17 AFCON 2021 : Morocco
e. Total CHAN 2022 : Algeria
As a follow-up of the executions of the decisions and the resulting issues, it was noted that the decision of CAF to pay the indemnities of match officials has improved the match environment – notably on the referees issues in the context of the fight against corruption.
