President of the Confederation of African Football (Caf), Patrice Motsepe has confirmed a return to the home and away format for the final of his outfit’s inter-club competitions, starting from the upcoming 2022/23 season.
This follows the controversy that emerged for the 2021/22 Caf Champions League final between Wydad Athletic Club and Al Ahly in Morocco earlier this month.
In the middle of the semifinals, Caf surprisingly announced Morocco as hosts for the grand finale of the elite club competition while Nigeria’s Uyo Stadium also hosted the final for the Confederation Cup.
Ahly, the Egyptian giants – who were chasing a record 11th title – lamented the Caf decision and even tried to stop the final from taking place, but a legal challenge to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was unsuccessful.
Wydad went on to play the final at their home venue at the Mohamed V Stadium in Casablanca, beating Al Ahly 2-0 in front of a sold-out home crowd.
Hosted by editors in his native South Africa Saturday, Caf President Motsepe was made to explain what seems a growing favouritsm for Morocco.
He reacted: “Caf took a decision in 2018, that they’re going to have a one-legged final and I couldn’t change that decision.
“And then you have countries that have to compete, South Africa did compete but you can’t compete without government support.
“So, SAFA puts a letter, but there’s no government support. So, at the end of the day, only two countries, Morocco and Senegal complied with the conditions. I privately recognised that you can’t be president of an organization and not comply with the rules and regulations and agreements.
“But let me tell you the concern from Al Ahly that they will be disadvantaged, it’s a legitimate and a fair concern. But the only problem I had was, that I cannot be a president that disregards and ignores rules and regulations and decisions that were taken.
“And we’re going to fix it. This will never happen again. It’s something I inherited, it’s something I could not change, the decision was taken before me. We will have a two-legged final because again, can you imagine the support of Al Ahly in Egypt?”
Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak have qualified to represent Ghana in the upcoming Caf Champions League and Confederation Cup respectively.
The 2022 Caf Awards
The continental awards scheme returns on July 21 after the last edition in 2019. In the past two years, it could not come off due to the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19.
Caf interestingly picked Morocco once more as hosts, a decision which further arms the school of thought that the North African nation is enjoying some preference.
“But is everything going to Morocco? Let me tell you something: whilst I’m President of Caf, no country, no club, no nation is going to enjoy preferred status.
“Again, the issue is perception. And the reason why we’re having the Caf Awards in Morocco is because we are having the women’s [Afcon] competition in Morocco.
“And we are inviting all of the other presidents to come there. It costs us less money because everybody’s there. And we will have excellent Caf Awards.
“I’m more alive now than ever before, to make sure that from a perception perspective, that all countries are treated equally, and that all clubs are treated equally,” Motsepe stated.
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