Algeria’s File To Host AFCON 2025, The Most Suitable For CAF Requirements
After Algeria officially announced its candidacy to host the AFCON 2025 to succeed Guinea, from which the honour of organizing this event was withdrawn due to its lack of readiness, many are wondering about Algeria’s ability to succeed in organizing the largest football event in the black continent, especially with the presence of at least 10 countries that expressed their desire to Guinea’s succession two years from now.
The Confederation of African Football imposed new requirements in 2018 for countries wishing to organize the AFCON, as confirmed by Echorouk in Wednesday’s issue, after raising the number of participating teams to 24, which requires logistical means and a large infrastructure to succeed in organizing, and to avoid recurrence of what happened during the last Cameroon edition, which was among the most unsuccessful courses in terms of organization. By looking at the “CAF” conditions, it is clear that Algeria is in the best hall to win the honour of organizing the AFCON 2025, especially with the undeclared support of the CAF president Patrice Motsepe for Algeria for a return of the CAN to the arms of this country continent “Algeria”, 35 years after the last edition organized by Algeria, and that was in 1990 when the “Desert Warriors” won the first title in their history.
In general, the CAF guidelines of requirements force the bidding country to provide 6 stadiums, including two stadiums with a capacity of not less than 15,000 fans, and two stadiums with a capacity of 20,000 fans, in addition to two stadiums with at least 40,000 seats, taking into account some other requirements in these facilities, including 4 dressing rooms, equipped with bathrooms and toilets, a referees’ room, another for controlling doping, and a “VAR” room.
The host country must provide two stadiums for each of the six groups to conduct training and prepare for matches, provided that they are naturally grassy, with a reserve stadium to be resorted to for necessity, and must have the same standards as the main stadiums except that there is no requirement to be available on the stands, and an ambulance must be placed at the disposal of each participating team, taking into account the presence of places designated for the training of referees.
The new requirements also impose the necessity of having 3 ways to supply the stadiums with electric power, the first being the natural source, and the second being an electric generator for sudden outages, in addition to a separate power source for electronic boards.
Regarding infrastructure, the country of choice must guarantee many hotels of the category 4 and 5 stars, in each of the cities that have been identified to receive the AFCON games, while covering the costs of accommodation for the referees and transportation, and all requirements throughout the days of the competition, which is the same for the qualified teams which have the right for accommodations 3 days before the start of the game, and two days after the last match for each team. As for the officials, it is necessary to put a private jet at their disposal to allow them to travel at all times to follow the various matches in different parts of the country, with the delivery of the security plan adopted by CAF within a period that does not exceed 6 months from the start of the African Cup of Nations.
After listing these conditions, it becomes clear that Algeria has all the chances to win the honour of organizing the AFCON 2025, especially since it meets all the conditions and perhaps is more than required to receive its guests from all over the continent.
Algeria recently hosted the 19th Edition of the Mediterranean Games in Oran, which is considered a real masterpiece according to the testimony of CAF officials, who described it as the jewel during their last inspection visit to determine the readiness of the facilities to embrace the CHAN 2023, which will start on January 13th, and the same for the new Baraki Stadium in Algiers, which is also a unique masterpiece in Africa. The works in the stadiums of Douira and Tizi Ouzou are nearing completion, without forgetting the renovation of the historical stadiums from July 5 in the capital, through Mustapha Tchaker in Blida, and the stadiums of Constantine and Annaba in the east of Algeria, with the possibility of relying on the Sig Stadium if needed.
As for the country’s infrastructure, Algeria has huge capabilities, from luxury hotels to international chains, and airports that meet all the necessary conditions, especially the new Houari Boumediene airport in the capital, and Oran International Airport Ahmed Ben Bella with its new air station, without forgetting the air and land transportation, metros and tramways. The dual motorway at a distance of more than 1,200 km and other logistical means is considered one of the best versions in the history of AFCON if the honour of organizing will be attributed to Algeria.
Many countries rushed to replace Guinea in hosting the AFCON 2025, the last of which is Senegal. No one disagrees about the quality and preference of the difference with files, as Algeria has completely covered stadiums located in the capital, in the Baraki and Douira stadiums, and in Tizi Ouzou, and Oran, with the Miloud Hadfi stadium, which are modern and respect international standards, and the CAF takes into account this kind of standards, as for the rest of the matters, there is no big difference in terms of the quality of services, especially with the presence of great political will by Algeria’s higher authorities, which means great guarantees to provide a respectable budget that allows for a very special version in 2025, but despite the preference of the Algeria file, this is not considered sufficient to win the honor of compensating Guinea, which requires significant and effective diplomatic work by the Algerian Foreign Ministry during the next three months preceding the announcement of the new host country, and the success in organizing the next CHAN 2023 that will be the largest support for the Algerian file.
