Africa-Press – Botswana. It might sound odd, strange or savage but it’s true. Botswana and Namibia, bidding to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations finals, have only one CAF approved stadium.
The rest have been condemned by the continent’s soccer governing body. The consolation is that this could be reversed with proper repair works to the concerned facilities.
The sorry state of some facilities in both countries might not be the be-all and end-all of the bid, but is a worrying indicator of the tough road ahead in the quest to convince CAF to give Botswana and Namibia the rights to organise the 2027 finals.
Recently, the two countries inked a Memorandum of Agreement, which set the bid’s wheels in motion.
Now the dirty work is underway with the Ashford Mamelodi-led technical team expected to hit the ground running.
There is some level of optimism that the two countries might land the right to organise the 2027 tournament.
But there is hard work ahead. The list of competing countries, that include Senegal and Morocco, looks intimidating.
Actually it will not be far off the mark to say Morocco can host the finals tomorrow. The North Africans are so ready.
But the same, unfortunately cannot be said about the joint southern African bid, patriotism aside.
It is five years before the 2027 tournament is played. That might seem to be a long way off and that there is sufficient time to get preparations up and going. But there have been harsh lessons before.
The National Stadium touch ups, which were dressed up as major renovations, took more than four years to complete in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup.
With 60 months before the tournament is held, there is a worrying statistic right before the bid committee.
Combined, Botswana and Namibia only have one CAF approved stadium. The Obed Itani Chilume Stadium in Francistown is the only facility deemed good enough to host international matches. The rest, from Windhoek to Gaborone, have failed the test.
The Namibia national team, the Warriors, plays their games in South Africa. Botswana’s saving grace has been the Obed Itani Chilume Stadium, otherwise we could be having two countries bidding to host the AFCON finals, without a proper stadium of their own. It is hardly an ideal situation no matter how far the finals are.
By now, such nagging issues as facilities failing the CAF test should be a thing of the past. This, in order to send an unambiguous message that Botswana and Namibia are ready.
The fact that facilities are still failing the CAF test is testimony of the hard and long road ahead. Expressing interest to host is one thing, and preparing to host is another.
What is apparent is that the bid process would be costlier considering the state of the facilities. For a country like Morocco with top notch facilities, the costs will be minimal.
In 2018, South Africa indicated it needed close to R140million to host the AFCON finals, after Cameroon was stripped off the rights to organise the tournament.
If South Africa, with all the facilities, needs that astronomical figure, what will it take for Botswana and Namibia? This could easily run into billions. I should not be mistaken for a prophet of doom but instead this should serve as a wake-up call to all involved in the bid process. We want the AFCON finals to be held in southern Africa as the tournament has become the preserve of the west and north. However, hard truths have to be told and it must be known that determination and not just a sympathy vote for southern Africa, will ensure the AFCON bid is successful.
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