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Future Afcon tournaments may need to be co-hosted due to the expanded 24-team format that was introduced at this year’s edition in Egypt.
Safa president Danny Jordaan, who is also the CAF executive and vice-president of the Afcon organising committee, cited the readiness of infrastructure as key to staging a bloated Afcon. He told City Press the minimum requirement in the current format was six stadiums, while the previous 16-team competition needed just four.
Egypt is hosting games at the Cairo International Stadium, Al Salam Stadium, 30 June Stadium (all in Cairo), and at the Alexandria, Ismailia and Suez stadiums.
“The increase in teams places increased demands – more hotel rooms, more buses ... TV infrastructure, catering, transport, media requirements and more,” Jordaan told City Press this week.
“Some of the CAF events had to be moved because of a lack of infrastructure readiness. Many countries failed to deliver the infrastructure on time.”
South Africa hosted the 1996 and 2013 Afcon editions after Kenya and Libya lost the hosting rights.
The same applies to the African Nations Championship (Chan).
This competition, which was formed in 2009 and is held every two years exclusively for Africa-based players, also saw last year’s version being hosted by Morocco after they replaced Kenya, while Cameroon saved the 2012 Chan after Ethiopia failed the readiness test.
Although Jordaan could not furnish the costs of the Egypt tournament, he said the north Africans had a major revamp of all stadiums and training pitches, which came at a price.
“I think because of the bus incident, the security cost will be high,” Jordaan said.
Egypt stepped up security after an explosion targeting a tourist bus injured at least 16 people near the pyramids in Giza in May. South African tourists were among the injured.
It was widely reported in the local media that Egypt had contributed 9 billion Egyptian pounds (R7.6 billion) for the staging of Afcon, but the government dispelled this, noting that the tournament is being funded by 32 sponsors.
Egypt, who beat South Africa by one vote in a last-minute bid to host this year’s tournament, replaced Cameroon as hosts six months before the Afcon kicked off.
The west African country was stripped of the hosting rights after an inspection team reported in September last year that there was a significant delay in the delivery of infrastructure.
However, the decision to expand the teams was only made after Cameroon had won the staging rights.
Jordaan believes co-hosting is the way to go.
“CAF has already had two examples of co-hosting and both were successful,” he said, referring to the 2000 edition staged by Ghana and Nigeria, as well as by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in 2012.
He also cited Fifa’s endorsement of countries co-hosting.
The world governing football body will run an expanded World Cup of 48 teams – up from 32 participants – in 2026. Mexico and Canada have been awarded the hosting rights.
Meanwhile, the tournament in Egypt is also the first time that the continental championship is played in June and July. This followed CAF’s resolution to move the competition from its previous January and February schedule.
This year’s final is pencilled in for July 19 at Cairo International Stadium.
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