Reports have emerged that the coronavirus pandemic may force the Confederation of African Football to shift the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon to 2022.

The next edition of the AFCON tournament was scheduled to take place between January 9 and February 6, 2021, but with four rounds of fixtures postponed, in addition to play-offs, and with eight months to the event, doubts have surrounded the staging of the tournament.

According to Egyptian website, egypttoday.com, a source within the African football governing body told French radio Monte Carlo about the possibility of holding the 2021 AFCON in the summer of 2022.

There is almost no chance for the African Cup of Nations 2021 to be held next January,

Monte Carlo was quoted via egypttoday.com.

The intention is to postpone the competition to January 2022.

The source added that there was another option of postponing the AFCON tournament for a likelihood of 18 months to prevent clash with the 2022 World Cup.

It’s also possible to make it in the summer of 2022, because the World Cup will take place in November 2022.

But we have to study this idea very well so as not to destabilise the African teams participating in the World Cup,

the source added.

The 2019 tournament in Egypt was the first AFCON tournament to be held in the summer.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.