adminABIDJAN. — African football supremo Ahmad Ahmad insisted on Tuesday he is not backing down over plans to increase the African Cup of Nations from 16 to 24 teams despite Cameroon’s organisational struggles.
Back in August, world governing body FIFA appointed a committee to run crisis-hit Cameroonian football amid growing fears the country would not be able to host the 2019 African Cup of Nations.
And despite the country’s difficulties in completing necessary infrastructure, Confederation of African Football president (CAF) Ahmad said no compromise will be made regarding the number of participating countries.
“If the host country cannot organise it we’ll find another country that can,” Ahmad said on Tuesday during a visit to Abidjan.
The 2019 edition is due to be the first to see 24 teams qualify, a 50 percent increase on previous editions.
“With regards Cameroon 2019, I cannot predict anything but all the authorities within the country right up to the head of state have always assured us they will be ready,” added Ahmad.
Meanwhile, SuperSport United striker Jeremy Brockie has been left bemused by Confederation of African Football after they scrapped their Africa-Based Player of the Year award.
Brockie (30) became the first non-African to be nominated for the award due to his exploits as top scorer in the CAF Confederation Cup campaign this season with runners-up SuperSport.
With 10 goals the New Zealand international was an integral part of the Premiership side’s success while also picking up the MTN8 crown — beating Cape Town City in the final.
The nomination for the best player based in Africa would have capped off an unbelievable 2017 for the Kiwi, who’s been linked with a host of South Africa’s biggest clubs.
“I went online an hour or two so after the nominations had been announced and found there was no based in Africa anymore which was quite surprising,” Brockie told BBC Sport.
“(Only reasons I have are) Just what I have been reading on social media and it is surprising I assume they will make some sort of announcement but it is a strange one.
“Obviously it got to the top 30 and then down to top 10 then all of a sudden it’s gone. I am sure there is some sort of reason behind and I will have to wait for those reasons like everyone else.
“I checked the CAF Twitter and there was nothing said about it so I scrolled through some other tweets and saw one saying that the Africa-based player and the ref of the year had been removed from the awards. It’s pretty disappointing as it was a great feeling knowing I was in the top ten and when it gets to that stage anyone can win the award.”
Despite not having the chance to walk away with what would have been his biggest individual honour of his career, Brockie admits he was delighted just to be mentioned amongst top players on the African continent.
“It’s an unreal feeling knowing how big the African continent is and it is very rewarding after a hard graft of traveling around the continent in the Confederation Cup and doing well here in South Africa,” Brockie said.
“So to be nominated into the top ten was absolutely amazing and I got a lot of support from my team-mates and family and friends who were also very excited and happy for me. Now to have the award go missing from the awards event is disappointing and I am sure that I am not the only player confused by the situation.” — AFP.
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