Vusumuzi Dube
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
CONFEDERATION of African Football president, Patrice Motsepe on Monday inaugurated the Caf satellite office in Cote d’Ivoire as preparations ahead of Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations 2023 gain momentum.
This is the second time that Caf has opened a satellite office in the host country to ensure better coordination between Caf, LOC and Government – the first one was in Yaoundé ahead of Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021, a tournament played at the beginning of this year.
Motsepe was joined by Ivorian Minister of Sport, Paulin Claude Danho, Mayor of Abidjan, Jean-Marc Yace, Local Organising Committee President, Albert François Amichia, Mme Mariam Dao Gabala, FIF Chairperson of the Normalisation Committee, Caf President Special Advisory Jacques Anouma and Caf General Secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba.
The 2023 Afcon tournament is taking place from 23 June to 23 July next year with six venues in five cities to be used.
Qualifiers for the 2023 Afcon have already started with the preliminary round of fixtures having been completed at the end of last month.
Botswana, South Sudan, Lesotho, Eswatini, Sao Tome and Gambia came through from the initial stages of the qualifiers and therefore join the 42 countries exempt from the preliminaries. The date and time of the group stage draw will be announced in due course.
A total of 46 nations will participate in the group stage, which kicks off in June. The teams will be split into 12 groups of four teams, with the top two from each pool qualifying for the final tournament in Côte d’Ivoire. -@Mdawini_29
Online Reporter