Africa Cup of Nations: A troubled build-up
Egypt faces a race against time to be ready for the June 21 kick-off.
Supposed to be in Cameroon…
Egypt, seven-time winners of this competition, stood in for Cameroon after the central African country was deemed by African football’s governing body, CAF, to have fallen too far behind in its preparations.
Not surprisingly, Egypt faces an uphill battle to be ready in time, especially as the format has been expanded from 16 teams to 24.
The locations of the teams’ training camps, as well as the issue of visas for both the delegations and supporters from across the continent, will only be clarified “after the draw”, says Nathalie Rabe, head of communications for CAF.
Signs of discord in Egypt
One expert with knowledge of the organising process told AFP that CAF recently “reprimanded” the Egyptian organising committee, accusing it of failing to coordinate its efforts and of making vague statements to the media.
Rabe declined to discuss the reports of rows between CAF and the local organisers and insisted that preparations “are going well”.
Egypt put forward a provisional list of 10 stadiums, of which six have been chosen to host games. Three are in Cairo, and stadiums in Alexandria, Suez and Ismailia round out the list.
“The biggest worry now is the quality of the stadiums and the pitches… but they should be ready for the tournament,” Hatem Maher, a sports journalist for Ahram Online, told AFP.
Boon for tourism?
It was widely assumed that Egypt’s decision to host the tournament at such short notice was motivated by a desire to attract tourists back to the country.
Visitor numbers to Egypt have dropped since the Arab Spring revolution of 2011 which led to the resignation from the presidency of Hosni Mubarak. There was also the 2015 bombing of a Russian airliner over the Sinai with the loss of 224 lives, and the country is mired in an economic crisis.
Egypt’s tourism ministry, however, denies that a special plan to attract tourists has been put into place for the tournament.
“Egypt’s decision to organise the competition was only aimed at showing the world that the country was capable of doing so,” Maher said.
Another Egyptian journalist, Mahmoud Diaa, from website Goal, said the tournament was a great opportunity for the country to improve the image of his country.