The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
COSAFA is set to challenge the awarding of three consecutive Confederation of African Football (Caf) Africa Cup of Nations to West African nations.
Cosafa president, Philip Chiyangwa said the body will call for an investigation into how one region managed to get the rights to host Africa’s premier nations tournament three times in a row.
Caf, then led by former president, Issa Hayatou, awarded the hosting of the 2019 finals to Cameroon, the 2021 finals were given to Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea was handed the right to host the 2023 Afcon finals.
In a statement released by the Cosafa media department, Chiyangwa said a commission of enquiry has to be instituted to find out how the awarding was done.
“These were politically, aggressively awarded wherein one region benefits from all competitions. This is our continent and our Africa and we have the right to ask questions and where we feel that we have been abused, we just have to do what we did. In these circumstances we are questioning the status quo; the locating of all interests in one region. Cosafa will launch a protest on some competitions that were previously awarded, so much so that there must be a commission of inquiry appointed. What were the criteria used.”
Chiyangwa said Cosafa will take an aggressive stance to promote the interest of the organisation and its members, including challenging decisions made by the previous regime in charge of Caf.
He said the organisation is the biggest regional block in African football — it has 14 member countries — and would seek to play a leading role in Caf matters and protects its own interests.
Cosafa would also be looking at how its members would best benefit from Fifa’s recent decision to give Africa nine places at World Cups from 2026 onwards and to be better represented in Caf’s committees and competitions.
Cosafa on Friday hosted new Caf president Ahmad of Madagascar, who was meeting his southern African colleagues for the first time since his historic election to the Caf presidency last month.
Chiyangwa and Safa president Danny Jordaan led the campaigning to elect the Madagascar Football Federation president to power. Cosafa have also confirmed the dates for their regional competitions this year.
The Cosafa Castle Cup will be played in South Africa’s North West province from June 25 to July 9, while the regional Under-20 competition will be staged from December 1-10. Mauritius will host the Cosafa Under-17 Championship from July 21-30, while the Cosafa Women’s Championship is set to be staged in Zimbabwe from September 13-24.
