THE Confederation of African Football will this week inspect four of the five cities set to host the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.
The tournament is scheduled for January 13 to February 11 in five cities, with matches to be played in six stadiums.
“As part of the preparations towards a successful TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023, CAF in collaboration with the Local Organising Committee (COCAN) will conduct a five-day inspection mission in a number of cities that will host the competition next year,” CAF said in a press release today made available to Naija Times.
The inspection team is scheduled to visit four cities: San Pedro, Korhogo, Bouake and Yamoussoukro.
Abidjan, which has two stadiums hosting games, is apparently exempted because the CAF team spent days there for the tournament draw and must have been satisfied with what they saw.
“The five-day mission scheduled for 16 – 20 October 2023, will afford the delegation a first-hand experience on the state of readiness of the four cities of the areas on sporting infrastructure (stadia, training sites), accommodation (hotel) amongst others for the tournament,” CAF added.
“The inspections come in the wake of the successful draw held on 12 October 2023 at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Abidjan.”
During Thursday night’s draw, the 24 qualified teams were placed in six groups of four each.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria drew hosts Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea in Group A, with all the group’s games billed for Abidjan’s Alassane Ouattara Stadium and Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium.
