President of
the Nigeria Football Federation and the 1st Vice President of the
Confederation of African Football, Amaju Melvin Pinnick, on Monday in Dakar,
Senegal pledged that the African football –ruling body will vote for the better
–qualified candidate between Egypt and South Africa to host this year’s Africa
Cup of Nations finals.
Pinnick, who is
also President of the AFCON Organizing Committee, said his committee
had analysed the strengths of the two bidding nations and would advise CAF on
the better option ahead of Wednesday’s meeting of the CAF Executive Committee
that will select the host country.
“The AFCON
committee of which I am the chairman has done a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats) on both bidding countries and we will meet on the
sideline of the CAF Football Awards to finally decide on the best option and
present same to CAF before Wednesday’s meeting.
“The interest
of African football is paramount in this. It is important that we get this
right so that the selected country can quickly put structures in place for the
championship which is only about five months away.”
The NFF boss,
who is also a Member of the Organizing Committee for FIFA Competitions, arrived
the Senegalese capital on Sunday evening for the meetings as well as the
AITEO-CAF African Football Awards, which holds in the historic island of Goree
on Tuesday evening.
Pinnick’s
influence and insistence was determinant in CAF agreeing to a four -year
contract with Nigeria’s leading energy solution company, AITEO for sponsorship
of the African Football Awards. AITEO came into the picture last year on a one –year
agreement to bankroll the event hosted in Accra, Ghana following the departure
of another Nigerian company, Globacom.
CAF had in
November 2018 stripped designated host, Cameroon, of the right to host the 2019
AFCON as a result of delays in construction and security threats.
Egypt and South
Africa have differing strengths with regards to their individual bids to host
the 32nd Africa Cup of Nations finals holding this summer. This year’s
edition will be the first to entertain 24 teams.
South Africa
hosted and won the 1996 finals that was taken away from Kenya for ill –preparedness,
and then also hosted the 2013 finals (that Nigeria won) after civil strife
broke out in designated host nation, Libya, in 2011.
0 comments:
Speak up your mind
Tell us what you're thinking... !