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African football chiefs want to abandon all matches at ‘disastrous’ Omnisport Stadium to avoid Afcon criticism

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THE African football federation is reportedly planning to relocate the remaining Afcon matches scheduled to take place at Cameroon’s Omnisport Stadium.

The shocking state of the pitch in the Douala-based arena – which has staged six matches so far – has become a major talking point over the last few days.

The state of the pitch at the Omnisport Stadium in Douala has become a big talking pointCredit: AP
CAF chiefs are discussing plans to move the remaining games set to be held at the stadiumCredit: GETTY

And CAF chiefs are reportedly discussing plans to move the remaining four matches scheduled to be held at the venue.

It’s claimed CAF’s organising committee discussed the plans during a meeting on Tuesday.

Those talks are reportedly still ongoing as members of the committee are said to be concerned about the image the pitch presents to the rest of the world.

The remaining fixtures scheduled to be played at the Omnisport Stadium could be moved to one of the two venues in the capital Yaounde.

Currently, a last-16 match, two quarter-finals and one semi-final tie are scheduled to be played at the stadium.

A decision to move to fixtures must be made early next week.

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The Ivory Coast are currently scheduled to play their round of 16 clash with Egypt in Douala next Wednesday.

After seeing the pitch play a huge role in his side gifting Sierra Leone a point last weekend, Elephants chief Patrice Beaumelle said: “I think this part of the pitch is a disaster. Everybody knows.

“The pitch is decent.

“I didn’t say it is fantastic, it is decent, but day after day, game after game, of course when you use a pitch it is quite difficult to maintain in a good condition.”

Beaumelle’s comments echoed those made by Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi ahead of his side’s clash with Equatorial Guinea.

He told BBC Sport Africa: “I am not saying that it’s catastrophic, but it’s not a level that would allow total fluidity and what we expect for big tournaments like the Nations Cup.”

The knockout stages of the rescheduled Africa Cup of Nations will get underway on Sunday afternoon, with Burkina Faso and Gabon kicking off the last-16 ties.

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Ivory Coast boss Patrice Beaumelle slammed the state of the Omnisport Stadium pitchCredit: AP

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk

Tagcloud: Africa Cup of NationsFootballSport

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