Sports / Soccer
AFCON hosting criteria needs reform says Omega Sibanda
25 Jan 2017 at 15:33hrs | Views
Zimbabwe Football Association vice president and head of delegation to the 2017 Gabon AFCON finals Omega Sibanda says countries in the Confederation of Southern African Football Association (COSAFA) need to unite and speak with one voice to ensure that the tournament is hosted on an equal basis.
The next AFCON tournament will be hosted by Cameroon in 2019 amid concerns by other African regions that the tournament is skewed in favour of francophone countries after the African Cup of Nations returned to Gabon, despite an air of unease for the second time in five years.
African soccer organisers chose to go back to the former co-host Gabon as a replacement for Libya, despite the shaky infrastructure and two largely untested new stadiums.
Speaking to the ZBC News during the Warriors departure following their exit from the tournament, Sibanda said COSAFA needs to speak with one voice to ensure reforms are adopted.
On the Warriors exit, Sibanda said its back to the drawing board, adding the Warriors had a good start but failed to defend in the opening halves of the two matches against Senegal and Tunisia.
After co-hosting with Equatorial Guinea in 2012, Gabon is hosting the 16 -nation with two new venues in Oyem, a town on the far north surrounded by rubber plantations and Port Gentil, the southern centre of Gabon's oil rich industry added to complement venues in Franceville and Libreville.
The next AFCON tournament will be hosted by Cameroon in 2019 amid concerns by other African regions that the tournament is skewed in favour of francophone countries after the African Cup of Nations returned to Gabon, despite an air of unease for the second time in five years.
African soccer organisers chose to go back to the former co-host Gabon as a replacement for Libya, despite the shaky infrastructure and two largely untested new stadiums.
Speaking to the ZBC News during the Warriors departure following their exit from the tournament, Sibanda said COSAFA needs to speak with one voice to ensure reforms are adopted.
On the Warriors exit, Sibanda said its back to the drawing board, adding the Warriors had a good start but failed to defend in the opening halves of the two matches against Senegal and Tunisia.
After co-hosting with Equatorial Guinea in 2012, Gabon is hosting the 16 -nation with two new venues in Oyem, a town on the far north surrounded by rubber plantations and Port Gentil, the southern centre of Gabon's oil rich industry added to complement venues in Franceville and Libreville.
Source - ZBC
