2021 Africa Cup of Nations moved to January, Cameroon FA announces

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) still wants a January start for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, despite ongoing uncertainty about the continent’s football because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Cameroon is the sixth worst-affected country in Africa by the pandemic, with nearly 10,000 reported cases.

Unclear when many competitions will resume across the continent, where only a handful of leagues are operating, the tournament in Cameroon is shrouded in doubt.

CAF itself has yet to confirm a restart date for any of its own tournaments amidst the pandemic.

Four of the six rounds of Nations Cup qualifying are yet to take place.

Rounds three and four of qualifying should have been played in March, with the penultimate round in early June and the final round between 31^st August and 8^th September.

Should the Nations Cup be moved, it would be the third time the tournament has changed dates, after its original January/February 2021 date was rescheduled for June/July 2021 after CAF finally chose against playing in the middle of the European season.

Earlier this year, CAF moved the tournament back to January/February, which it said was because of Cameroon’s climatic conditions while others pointed to a timing clash with the Club World Cup.

That FIFA tournament has now been moved back to 2022, which is when CAF might schedule the Nations Cup as 2021 fills up with delayed 2020 competitions such as the Olympics and European and South American championships.

The women tournament is also at risk.

The expanded 12-team tournament was originally scheduled to kick off in November, but so far not one of the 36 entered teams has played a qualifier – while CAF is still to have a host nation after original hosts Congo withdrew.

CAF is also undecided over the scheduling for major competitions such as the 2020 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) and the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

CHAN was set to have taken place in April, while the World Cup qualifiers had been scheduled to start in October, a month when the Nations Cup qualifying is now set to take precedence.

One of the earliest tournaments CAF could restart is its African club competition, with the return of the Champions League and Confederation Cup mooted for as early as July or, perhaps more likely, September.