On a mandate from CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe, CAF General Secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba together with a CAF delegation landed in Cote d’Ivoire.

Their mission is 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 to run from June to July 2023.

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.

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. 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.” Mosengo-Omba said.

“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.” He added.

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.

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