CAF rubbishes 2021 AFCON postponement & change of host nation rumors

• There have been rumors of a possible second postponement of the 2021 AFCON, but CAF have rubbished those claims
• Aside the uncompletion of some stadiums, and the congested sporting calendar, the new reason is the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19
• The 2021 African Cup of Nations is at the moment scheduled to start in January 9 to February 6 next year

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has rubbished rumors of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) being postponed from next month to a much later time.

The rumors also had it that, host nation of the 24-team tournament, Cameroon might be losing their hosting privileges to a foreign country on another continent like Qatar.

With the recent discovery of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 virus and the fact that some stadiums are now at the final phase of readiness.

The Omicron variant has led to travel restrictions being handed onto some African nations by European countries, as neighbors of Cameroon, Nigeria, the latest to be red-listed by the United Kingdom.

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Director of communications for CAF, Alex Siewe, has said in an interview with BBC Sport that officials of CAF nor Cameroon, have not held any discussions at all on any of the rumored events.

"We can't keep spending time dealing with rumors. We did not receive any other message or information from our leaders - nothing such as changing of dates or countries.

'We did not discuss such during all our last meetings. We are on site. We are working."

The 2021 TotalEnergies African Cup of Nations (AFCON), was supposed to come off in last year but was postponed along with almost every other international tournament due to seriousness of the global pandemic.

Alex Siewe, disclosed that officials of the continent's football governing body arrived in Cameroon recently to see to it that final preparations for the showpiece.

"An official delegation from CAF has been released and general secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba is joining us in two days".

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There have been a lot of talk from European football clubs expressing "concerns" over the 2021 AFCON, with the European Club Association (ECA), an independent body which represents clubs across Europe, citing "concerns over player welfare before the tournament" as Covid-19 "continues to deteriorate in an alarming manner".

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