The Confederation of African Football (CAF) issued an official statement turning down the request of the Egyptian Football Federation and Al-Ahly Club to host the final of the CAF Champions League.
“The Confederation of African Football (CAF) received a letter from the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports referring to the request of the Egyptian Football Association and Al-Ahly to host the final of the African Champions League,” the statement read.
The CAF fully appreciates and fully understands the complaints and concerns raised by Al-Ahly Club and the Egyptian Football Association and is committed to the principles of fairness, justice and equality among all member clubs and federations, the statement added.
However, CAF was obligated to abide by and implement the decision made by the previous CAF leadership in July 2019 that the CAF Champions League final would be a one-legged final instead of the usual two-legged final, the statement said.
Moreover, CAF is also bound by the CAF and FIFA rules which do not allow for the rules of the competition to be changed once the competition has started, according to the statement.
Morocco and Senegal were the only two countries that met the criteria for the host country’s bid, after the CAF asked its 54 member federations to submit bids to host the CAF Champions League final, while Egypt made no bid.
South Africa and Nigeria submitted documents expressing their interest in hosting the CAF Champions League final but did not meet the host country’s bidding criteria.
Egypt made a request later to host the event, but it did not meet the criteria of the host country.
The CAF decided to hold the CAF Champions League final in Morocco after Senegal withdrew its bid.
Discussions were going in the CAF to return to the system where the CAF Champions League final was two-legged, instead of the current one-legged final.
But the idea of a two-legged final was rejected in the CAF’s statement.
