Caf boss Ahmad Ahmad avoids discussing Cameroon's Afcon 2019 hosting capacity

Caf president Ahmad Ahmad has declined to respond to questions on the safety of Cameroon’s 2019 Afcon hosting rights.

The central African country’s capacity to successfully host an expanded 24-team tournament has come under scrutiny after they were initially handed rights to organise the tournament with 16 teams in 2014.

With massive infrastructural upgrades needed to handle a 24-team Afcon, Cameroon are only left with 10 months before staging the rescheduled June/July tournament.

Speculation that Cameroon could lose the rights or the idea of co-hosting with one of their neighbours has now heightened. 

But Ahmad said he will only be open to discuss Cameroon’s fate during September’s Caf extraordinary congress in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh.

The Caf boss’ position is most likely to fuel speculation in the next few weeks.

“I don’t like to talk about Afcon (2019) because we are here for the Under-17. Give me a question about this tournament, I am here for that. Next time come in Sharm El Sheikh. We will have an executive committee meeting and an extraordinary congress. We can (then) talk about everything on African football,” Ahmad told SABC Sport.

If Cameroon are deemed not ready, the option to hand the hosting rights to other countries might not be ruled out.

North African countries with more developed infrastructure to handle an expanded Afcon could be considered, together with South Africa, who successfully staged the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

But having hosted the eight-team 2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations, Cameroon could be confident of their stadia and accommodation infrastructure as well as transport networks.