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Soccer

Football

CAF postpones the African Super Cup final once again

The Qatari Football Association said they are not ready to host the African event leading to a further postponement of the game.

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FILED - 27 November 2020, Egypt, Cairo: A general view during the African Champions League Final soccer match between Zamalek and Al Ahly at Cairo International Stadium. Photo: Omar Zoheiry/dpa 27/11/2020 ONLY FOR USE IN SPAIN
DPA vía Europa Press

The venue and date of the "Total" Super Cup final game between CAF CL champion, Egypt's Al-Ahly and African Confederation Cup winners, Morocco's RS Berkane, have changed several times.

The event was initially to be hosted by Qatar under an agreement between African football's governing body (CAF) and the Qatari Football Association (QFA) that entitled the Asian country to host the event for three consecutive years.

However the host country was changed when the two parties released a joint statement stating that CAF and QFA agreed that the game would be held in Cairo instead of Doha due to the packed calendar of the QFA, with the game then scheduled to be held on 18 December in the Egyptian capital.

For their part, a spokesperson for RS Berkane had earlier expressed his club's desire to play the game in Qatar as was the case in the two previous Super Cup finals noting that they would prefer to commit to the three-year contract signed with the Qatari governing body.  "We don't mind playing the game in any country  but we are abiding by the agreement with Qatar. CAF hasn't determined the date of the game yet". RS Berkane's spokesperson told the media.

CAF executive committee met in Cairo on Thursday to discuss several issues related to African football. Current acting CAF president Constant Omari insisted in the meeting that the agreement signed with QFA has to be followed, meaning the Asian country would be entitled to host another edition of the event.

In another surprising turn of the events, the Qatari association announced their unwillingness to host the event, leading to CAF releasing a statement explaining that due to the difficulty of reaching an agreement with the Qatari Association the 2019-2020 Super Cup game between Al-Ahly and RS Berkane will be played in the first half of 2021.

The statement did not mention the exact time or place of the event, as the governing body still needs to agree terms with the Qatari Association or find an alternative venue for the game.