CAF Refuses to Confirm Ghana as Definite Host for 2018 Africa Women’s Championship

With just three months before the start 2018 Africa Women’s Championship, Ghana’s status as hosts still hangs in the balance as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is refusing to confirm whether the West African country would stage the tournament.

CAF says the final decision will be taken next month when a meeting of the tournament’s organising committee is held in the Egyptian capital Cairo after receiving inspection visit reports.

With just three months left, host countries are expected to have completed their preparation but CAF has been left unimpressed with the progress work at venues.

Ghana were sent into frenetic mood on Sunday night when CAF President Ahmad Ahmad revealed in Tanzania that they are speaking with some countries to take over as hosts of the competition.

This clearly meant that CAF had stripped Ghana of the rights to host the competition as they had been plunged into seeking replacements.

Kenya, who were pencilled as one of the replacement countries, wrote to CAF on Saturday to reveal that they are not interested in staging the event because of the lack of facilities.

Ghanaian authorities who were unaware of the CAF decision to strip Ghana of the hosting approached for a clarification over the issue which led to an unconvincing statement with the continental body refusing to emphatically confirm as Ghana hosts.

“The subject will be discussed at the next meeting of the Organising Committee for Women’s Football to be held in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday, 12 September 2018,” the CAF statement said on Monday.

“The report of the last inspection visit is among items on the agenda.

“The final decision will be taken by the CAF Executive Committee at its meeting on 27-28 September 2018 in Egypt.”

As CAF are refusing to Ghana as hosts with just three months left as it is normally expected that within such period facilities would have been ready to stage the event.

CAF Presdient Ahmad Ahmad has revealed that they are talking to some countries to take over as hosts of the two-week competition.

“We are engaging several countries and should be able to announce a host during the CAF Extraordinary General Assembly in Egypt next month,” CAF Ahmad said on Sunday.

Ahmad revealed that new host will be announced next month during the CAF Extraordinary General Assembly in Egypt.

The eight-team tournament is scheduled to take place between 17 November to 1 December 2018 but the dodgy pace of preparation look to have led to the decision.

Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Algeria, South Africa, Zambia, Mali and Nigeria have already qualified for the tournament, and will be joined by the hosts.

Source: Ghanasoccernet