Issa Hayatou rules out Nations Cup finals expansion

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Sports News of Saturday, 8 October 2016

Source: GHANAsoccernet.com

2016-10-08

Issa Hayatou CAF PresCAF President Issa Hayatou

CAF president Issa Hayatou has no plans of increasing the number of teams for the Africa Cup of Nations finals to 24.

There are suggestions that the continent’s governing body should add eight more slots to the current 16 as it has happened to the European Championship.

But that idea has rejected by Hayatou, who has been in power since 1988, citing lack of infrastructure reasons.

“If there was no handicap originating from infrastructure we would have gone to 24 teams. There is no reason why it’s not done, but we are realistic,” Hayatou expressed.

”Lots of countries can’t accommodate a CAN with more than 16 teams. Europe does it because it has lots of stadiums. In Africa, when I was elected in 1988, it was eight, then 12 in 1992 and 16 in 1996.

“We may not always agree with the Cameroonians, but on this one, it is clear that the leader is not wrong.”