The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has responded to criticism after it announced earlier this week that Morocco will host the CAF Champions League final on Monday, 30 May.
This is the second successive Champions League final to be hosted by Morocco. Last year’s final, which was won 3-0 by Al Ahly against Kaizer Chiefs was played in Morocco.
Thursday’s response came after CAF received a letter from the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports referring to the request by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) and Al Ahly SC for a neutral venue of the Champions final.
“CAF appreciates and fully understands the complaints and concerns raised by Al Ahly SC and the EFA and is committed to the principles of fairness, justice and equality of all clubs and member associations,” a CAF statement said on Thursday evening.
“However, CAF was obligated to adhere to and implement the decision that was taken by the previous CAF leadership in July 2019, which was that the TotalEnergies Champions League final would be a one-leg final rather than the usual two-legged home and away final. Furthermore, CAF is also bound by the CAF and FIFA rules which do not allow competition rules to be changed once the competition has started.”
The statement added that Morocco and Senegal were the only countries that submitted bids to host the final following CAF’s request to its 54-member associations to bid to host the final.
The statement further said that South Africa and Nigeria also submitted documents expressing an interest to host the Champions League final, but did not fulfil the host country bidding criteria.
“Egypt did submit a bid to host the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup Final, but did not fulfil the host country bidding criteria. CAF subsequently awarded the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League final to Morocco, after Senegal withdrew its bid,” the CAF statement added.
“As previously stated, there are currently discussions underway within CAF to revert to the old two-legged home and away final to determine the winner of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League, rather than the one-leg final.”
