Wednesday, August 13, 2014
EBOLA Virus: CAF orders relocation of matches from Sierra Leone and Guinea
The
confederation of African Football (CAF) has ordered Sierra Leone and
Guinea to relocate their 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers
following the outbreak of Ebola Virus in their countries.
In
the letter written by CAF's officials ot other member-associations to
inform them of its decision to ask the two countries to relocate
their games for the AFCON qualifiers they said:
“It
is a preventive measure to avoid mass gathering that could facilitate
the spread of the virus.”
CAF
also said the measure would remain in place until mid-September. What
does this mean? At least the first two round of the matches,
scheduled for between September 5th,
6th
and 10th
will be relocated.
According
to the World Health Organization, at least 1,848 cased of Ebola has
been reported and about 1,013 deaths, mainly in Sierra Leone, Guinea,
and Liberia.
Following
CAF's directive, Guinea will need a new venue for their Group E tie
against visiting Togo on 5-6 September.
Sierra
Leone had already said it would not host any football matches until
further notice and they have asked Ghana if they are able to host
their Group D matches.
The
Leone Stars are currently scheduled to host DR Congo on 10 September.
In
a bid to combat this deadly virus, CAF moved to allay fears on the
countries' away fixtures, saying that "each federation whose
country is affected by the virus must ensure their delegations
travelling abroad can be examined before departure".
It
added that "each national association receiving delegations must
communicate the necessary information delivered by health authorities
to ensure the reception of teams... and if necessary to provide
additional checks at arrival points".
Sierra
Leone are due to play Ivory Coast, DR Congo and Cameroon in the last
round of qualifying, which runs from early September to mid-November.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete