By Andrew Wasike
NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has postponed the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2021, Africa’s main football competition over COVID-19.
In a Friday statement, CAF said that "following the growing concerns of the COVID-19 virus and the declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) describing it as a pandemic, CAF has decided to postpone the competitions until further notice".
The matches postponed were scheduled to kick off from 25 to 31 March for Men’s qualifiers and 27-29 March for women's Under 20 World Cup Qualifiers.
Women's AFCON 2020 Qualifiers scheduled for 8-14 April have also been postponed.
A growing number of sports events and organizations have been suspended, rescheduled while some were announced to be held behind closed doors as the world is struggling to contain the coronavirus spreading rapidly.
This comes as Kenya and Ethiopia on Friday confirmed their first cases of COVID-19, in Kenya being that of a woman who recently traveled to the U.S. via London and in Ethiopia that of a Japanese man who arrived in Ethiopia from Burkina Faso last week.
On Thursday, Kenya banned its athletes from traveling for international events.
