The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has officially announced that three matches of the ongoing 2021 Cameroon Africa Cup of Nations have been moved from the Japoma Stadium in Douala to Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde.
This has become necessary following a stampede that occurred on Monday, January 24 minutes after a Round of 16 game between host nation Cameroon and Comoros at the Olembe Stadium which left 8 spectators dead and about 38 others injured in the ongoing AFCON 2021 tournament.
In a statement issued by CAF on Wednesday, the continent’s football governing body state as follows:
- due to the incident at Olembé Stadium that resulted in the death of eight spectators and several other spectators being injured and,
- the decisions of the CAF Disciplinary Board
The next match that was scheduled for the Olembé Stadium will not take place until CAF and the Local Organising Committee have received the full report of the Investigation Committee (into the Olembé incident) indicating the circumstances and events that led to the injury and death of spectators at the Olembé Stadium, the statement read.
The decision was arrived at after a meeting between CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe and the CAF AFCON Organising Committee on Wednesday to deliberate on the Olembe Stadium incident and the way forward. At the said meeting, it was agreed that two quarter final matches and one semi final match scheduled to take place at the Olembe stadium in Douala now be moved to the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde.
“The CAF AFCON Organising Committee also decided that the following matches will be relocated to Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium:
- Quarter Final Match No 47 scheduled to take place on 30 January 2022 involving Winner 43 vs Winner 42 at 16h00 local time
- Quarter Final Match No 48 scheduled to take place on 30 January 2022 involving Winner 41 vs Winner 44 at 20h00 local time
- Semi-Final Match No 49 scheduled to take place on 2 February 2022 involving Winner 45 vs Winner 48 at 20h00 local time”, the statement announced.
After the Round of16 matches played on Thursday, it has now been confirmed that the two quarter final fixtures affected include Egypt vs Morocco and Senegal vs Equatorial Guinea, which have both been rescheduled to now take place at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde.
It is however worthy to note, that the Semi-Final Match No 49 scheduled to take place on 2 February 2022 involving Winner 45 vs Winner 48 may go ahead at the Olembe stadium should CAF be satisfied with the reports from the Investigation Committee concerning the safety state of the stadium.
Photo Credit: CAF
