LAST week, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) inspectors concluded their tour of duty in the five countries bidding to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals.
Following the withdrawal of DR Congo, Zambia was the last country to be visited by the CAF inspectors, who had earlier checked on the proposed facilities in Algeria, Cameroon, Guinea and Ivory Coast.
I believe Zambia, who were awarded the 1988 edition but failed to organise it, this time around did more than enough to impress the CAF delegation led by Amadou Diakite and ensure we are finally accorded this rare opportunity to stage the AFCON.
The political will shown by the Zambian Government towards this cause is impressive and I am sure even the CAF inspectors were pleased with the assurances and commitments.
Looking at the five bidding nations, Zambia and Algeria stand good chances of winning the rights to host the 2019 and 2021 AFCON finals, respectively.
Truth should be told, these two countries at the moment had better football facilities compared to the other three bidders.
Zambia currently boasts of two state-of-the-art stadiums – Heroes in Lusaka and Levy Mwanawasa in Ndola – and plans are already underway to construct another modern structure in the tourist capital, Livingstone next year.
Government has also promised to upgrade Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka and Chililabombwe’s Konkola in accordance with CAF specifications as other proposed match venues.
After successfully staging the regional COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup last year and awarded the rights to organise the 2017 Africa Under-20 Championship, Zambia seems to have really staked her claim to host the AFCON.
Algeria, who hosted the 1990 AFCON, also boasts of high-class facilities like the Stade 5 Juillet 1962 in Algiers.
As for Cameroon, the West African nation isjust planning to build five new stadiums.
Of the five, Cameroon, who hosted the 1972 AFCON finals, are proposing to build two large multi-purpose structures in Yaounde and Douala.
The Cameroonians are also planning to renovate the existing stadiums in Doula, Garoua and Yaounde’s Ahmadou Ahidjo.
Coming to Guinea, the West African nation currently only has Stade 28 Septembre in Conakry while a new facility is being constructed in Nongo.
Ivory Coast has the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny, which has hosted the AFCON before and was also the venue for the 2009 African Championship of Nations.
However, Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan has recorded two nasty accidents in 2009 and 2013.
In 2009 on March 29 during Ivory Coast’s match against Malawi, there was a stampede which claimed 19 people and injuring over 130 others after a gateway gave way before kick-off.
During a New Year’s eve fireworks display last year, another stampede happened where 61 lives were lost and more than 200 injured.
These two fatalities may raise some serious concerns over the safety of fans at the stadium.
Back home, Zambia just needs to improve the road network in all proposed host cities including accommodation facilities in Ndola and Chililabombwe.
***********
From the mail bag, I got a letter from Alfred Ndhlovu, who responded to my last weekend’s column on “Free advice for Honour Janza”.
He writes: It is time that soccer planners worked on raising the “Education Index” among football coaches in Zambia to compete with South American and European counterparts. European and South American coaches are usually preferred because they are ideally highly educated, up to university level.
Soccer is big business and therefore those who are involved at any level must be well educated to compete with other big brains.
The Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup illustrated that soccer requires high level planning to succeed. As you may know, brains become most fertile to moot and hatch good ideas with sound education.
I propose that under 30 years coaches must be encouraged and sponsored to go to universities for further education before they are appointed to coach Premier Clubs.
Be blessed and good day!
Alfred A. K. Ndhlovu, Lusaka.
For comments email: malungaf@gmail.com