Officials of the African Cup of Nations can breathe easy, with Cameroon set to host the tournament in January 2022. Cameroon has to prove to the organizing committee that they didn’t make a mistake by choosing them as the hosting country, by proving they’re capable of hosting the competition. Soccer fans will have the opportunity to wager on the games using a promo code as explained on this page, with Cameroon trying as hard as they can to make the tournament a success.
In 2019, the African cup of nations confederation had chosen Egypt to replace Cameroon due to a financial scandal. There were clear doubts concerning the usage of finances by the Cameroon authorities, with the scandal escalated by the mismanagement of public funds and lack of infrastructure. The organizers were concerned about the country’s political scene, insecurity, and traffic jams, among other issues.
Several political activists demanded the allocated funds’ accountability and instead put them into various prisons around the country. Fortunately, the Cameroon government can breathe easy as the stadiums selected to host the event are ready and fully operational. However, the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde isn’t ready yet, although it’s almost complete and ready to host the opening ceremony. According to the personnel in charge of the construction, the stadium will be ready from September, with 60,000 fans capacity.
Cameroon had to forgo its dream to build a state of the art sports complex with an Olympic swimming pool, artificial lake, tennis court, basketball, volleyball courts, and several commercial spaces. However, the state of the other non-sporting infrastructure remains a point of concern. For example, the expansion of the strategic east road, which leads to Japoma stadium, has halted, translating to massive traffic jams in the rush hour.
Other concern issues include the insecurity levels in the Limbe pool, located in the English-speaking region of the southwest. Fako, a division of the southwest region, appeared peaceful, although incursions by the secessionist militias in Buea’s Mua District threatened the tournament’s planning in mid-June. However, CAF is confident that Cameroon will successfully organize the tournament despite the hurdles.
According to CAF president Patrice Motsepe, the African nation would witness the high-quality organization of Cameroon. Motsepe believes it wasn’t a mistake to choose Cameroon to host the event, and there’s no plan B for the event. In simple terms, Cameroon had been given the go-ahead to host the event.
The earlier set dates for the tournament were between June and July 2021. CAF pushed the event for the second time to January 2022, citing dangerous climatic conditions. There have been a total of 35 editions of the tournament. The most successful country for these competitions is Egypt, having won eight times. The host Cameroon has emerged victorious five times. Algeria won the last AFCON.
Twenty-four teams are competing in the tournament. The teams which have qualified for the event will be allocated four pots having six teams in each. The draw was conducted based on the team’s FIFA world ranking.
