The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations will now be played in 2022 BBC Sport report. They report that the tournament has been postponed until January 2022 by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as a result of Covid 19. The women’s version of the competition has been cancelled.
The men’s tournament was due to take place in January 2021. However, the way things have gone and the the way the virus is spreading across it is probably a wise decision. The African Nations Championship which should have took place in April of this year will now be played in January 2021. CAF President Ahmad Ahmad said, “Health is our number one priority. We must remain vigilant,”.
Incidentally, the tournament move now means it will take place in 2022 the same year as the World Cup. It is not the first time this happened though as it was the same in 2010. The move in fact will benefit Premier League, especially Liverpool who will have both strikers next season Sadio Mane and Mo Salah. The duo will now not miss games. Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr speaking to BBC Sport Africa said, “I think this is a wise decision because time is very short now and they could not postpone to the summer,”.
Mr Rohr continued, “I can understand this decision – we have more time now to prepare our young boys. It is not all bad”. He said, “There is a positive side in all this and we have time for some friendlies and also for the beginning of the World Cup qualifiers – normally we will begin in November with this, and I think we can follow the plan and still have time to the Afcon qualifiers starting in October, so it is a wise decision and it will be a big year in 2022.”
The 2022 tournament will remain in Cameroon where it was scheduled to be next year.
