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The Confederation of African Football (CAF) signed on April 04th the\u00a0Organising Association Agreement (OAA) with the South African Football\u00a0Association in Johannesburg, South Africa.<\/p>\n
CAF Secretary General Hicham El Amrani spoke to Cafonline.com on the
latest news on the preparations for the Orange Africa Cup of Nations
2013.
Cafonline.com: The OAA was signed but announcing of the venues has
been delayed why is that? <\/p>\n
Hicham El Amrani:\u00a0 The OAA was signed following intensive and
productive 2-days meetings with the AFCON 2013 Local Organizing
Committee. The spirit was excellent and the cooperation was smooth
among all involved parties. We agreed on all key aspects in
relationship to the event and the content of the OAA, obligations and
rights.
Regarding the host cities and venues it was a matter of due diligence
since SAFA needed to finalize host cities agreements and submit the
same to government for ratification and this is why we have postponed
the announcement of the host cities to latest by 20th April. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Cafonline.com: Will CAF be going for more than the usual 4 venues that
you normally use for AFCON finals? \u00a0<\/p>\n
Hicham El Amrani: We do have a minimum of four (4) venues\u2019 policy for
AFCON finals and so far South Africa has received interest from seven
or eight cities and this highlights how important the tournament is.
So far we believe five (5) venues will be selected, not more, since
too many venues will also present logistical and financial
constraints. So we are looking forward to a confirmation from the LOC
on that aspect. It is worth mentioning that South Africa will also be
hosting the CHAN in 2014, another 16 team tournament, so venues not
selected for the AFCON 2013 will have the opportunity to be considered
as well.<\/p>\n
Cafonline.com: How do you intend to address the challenge of bringing
fans to AFCON 2013 matches? \u00a0<\/p>\n
Hicham El Amrani: It was one of the priorities we set when we met in
South Africa, to focus specifically on ticketing programs and allow
African football fans to celebrate this competition, whether from
South Africa or from abroad. South Africa presents an ideal
environment for that since it represents a great touristic destination
offering possibilities for people to come and visit as well as watch
some games during the tournament. With this in mind we want also to
work closely with all stakeholders in South Africa to involve the
local communities. This entails the implementation of social
responsibility programmes and raising awareness of key issues and
causes during AFCON 2013. It is also important to establish the right
ticketing prices, packages and ticketing distribution system, and
position the event as another opportunity for football lovers to be
entertained.
We have established a roadmap with the LOC whereby ticketing sales
will be divided into 4 different phases, aimed at the various
audiences. We are looking as well at providing incentives and
opportunities to children to come with their parents to matches. The
Ticketing process will start in July this year.<\/p>\n
Cafonline.com: What are the other activities on CAF planned for the
next six months? <\/p>\n
Hicham El Amrani: We have the usual activities planned, including the
running of the Orange CAF inter club competitions. Then we will have
our annual meetings in May that will include the inter-clubs draw as
well as the CAF Executive Committee meeting, Referees committee and
inter-clubs committee meetings. We are also working on a key seminar
gathering all the secretary generals of all CAF Member Associations to
be held on the 27th of April in Cairo. This will serve as a platform
to communicate CAF programmes as well as establish further initiatives
for the betterment of African football .Then we have an extra-ordinary
CAF general assembly schedule in Seychelles in September and that one
will be used as a platform to propose to the Congress some amendments
in our statutes. In addition, the Official Draw for the AFCON 2013
finals will take place on the 26th of October.<\/p>\n
Source <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
CAFONLINE <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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