Will Guinea one day be able to organize its first CAN? The president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Patrice Motsepe was in Guinea this Friday while doubt persists about the ability of this country to host the African Cup of Nations as planned in 2025, said a Guinean sports official.
Motsepe (60) was to meet the leader of the junta in power since September 2021, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, before leaving in the evening, according to the program of the visit communicated by the Guinean Federation.
The fate of Guinea soon sealed?
The South African’s visit follows that made at the beginning of September by a CAF mission which came to find out about the progress of the project. This visit had given rise to strong speculation on the possibility of a withdrawal of the organization to Guinea.
The mission had then suggested the possibility of a postponement to 2026 or 2027, but Colonel Doumbouya had ruled out this hypothesis and had pledged that the competition would take place in Guinea in 2025, reported the Minister of Sports Lansana Bea Diallo.
The president of CAF will hold a press conference in Algiers this Saturday at the end of the meeting of the executive committee of the organization, said the latter in a press release.
Guinea poor in sports and transport infrastructure
The organization of the CAN promises to be a challenge for a poor country like Guinea which is sorely lacking in infrastructure at the level, whether it is sports equipment or transport. Doumbouya appointed a new organizing committee in March, ousting the old team, one of whose members publicly expressed doubts about the feasibility of the project.
He issued a decree declaring the organization of CAN 2025 “of national and priority interest”.