CAF General Secretary Visits Next AFCON Hosts Cote d’Ivoire 

CAF General Secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba together with a CAF delegation landed in Cote d’Ivoire to pay a courtesy visit to the country that will host the next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2023. Cote d’Ivoire will host the competition in June/July 2023.

Mosengo-Omba was mandated by CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe to visit the next AFCON hosts as part of the President’s promise that CAF will adopt a more hands-on approach in working with future tournament hosts. The visit was also aimed at assessing the level of preparations ahead of next year’s AFCON.

For two days, Mosengo-Omba, accompanied by President Motsepe’s Special Advisor Jacques Anouma, visited three sites and held deliberations with the Local Organising Committee in Cote d’Ivoire. The sites visited by the CAF delegation are: Korhogo, San Pedro and Felix Houphouet-Boigny.

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The delegation also held key meetings with Cote d’Ivoire Prime Minister His Excellency Patrick Achi and Sports Minister Danho Paulin.

“The CAF President sent us here with a clear mandate to assess level of preparations. We also needed to engage with Government and the LOC on a number of matters that are part of the preparations,” Mosengo-Omba said.

“We are very impressed with the attitude, commitment and the understanding of the people of Cote d’Ivoire. The meeting with both Prime Minister and Sports Minister was a clear indication of this level of commitment. There is still a lot of work, we know this, and they know this.

“But we saw the progress in infrastructure is going well and the stadiums are shaping up nicely,” Mosengo-Omba cconcluded.

As part of CAF’s commitment to fostering a more close working relationship with hosts, a CAF satellite office will be established around April 2022.

Chidi Nwoke/CAF.