COSAFA TO PROTEST AFCON FINALS HOSTING

MBABANE – Being the biggest regional bloc in African football with 14 members, COSAFA is looking at how it can benefit from FIFA’s decision to give Africa nine places at World Cups starting in 2026 and also protest three successive AFCON finals awarded to West African countries.

The Council of Southern African Football Association (COSAFA) vowed to take an aggressive stance to promote the interest of the organisation and its members, including challenging decisions made by the previous regime in charge of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), President Phillip Chiyangwa said on Friday in a meeting with newly-elected CAF President Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar and members.
The country is represented by Football Association (FA) President Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa in the meeting.

Being the biggest bloc in African football, the organisation would seek to play a leading role in CAF matters and protect its own interests.
Recently elected President Chiyangwa said COSAFA would be looking at how its members would best benefit from FIFA’s recent decision to give Africa nine places at World Cups from 2026 onwards and to be better represented in CAF’s committees and competitions. He also sounded a strong warning over the contentious decision made several years ago to award the hosting of three successive Nations Cup finals to West African countries.

“These were politically, aggressively awarded wherein one region benefits from all competitions,” he said in reference to the 2019 finals in Cameroon, 2021 in the Ivory Coast and 2023 in Guinea.
“This is our continent and our Africa and we have the right to ask questions and where we feel that we have been abused, we just have to do what we did. In these circumstances we are questioning the status quo; the locating of all interests in one region.
“COSAFA will launch a protest on some competitions that were previously awarded, so much so that there must be a commission of inquiry appointed. What were the criteria used and so on.”

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