The country, fearing the worst may happen with the arrival of players and supporters in their thousands from affected regions are asking CAF for the event to be postponed. But CAF insists that the event must go on between January 17 and February 8 as scheduled.
CAF has therefore approached South Africa, Ghana and five other countries to stand-by to host the tournament if Morocco eventually fails, but “the fear of Ebola is the beginning of wisdom”. None of these countries are willing to accept the offer.
Apart from the unplanned hosting costs and logistics, these countries are weary of the Ebola virus threat.
In a statement on Friday, South Africa’s department of Sports and Recreation said: “There are just too many factors to consider for South Africa,”
“The tournament … may also pose a challenge on how we can grapple with the Ebola challenge engulfing the continent at the moment.”
The dreaded virus has killed more than 4,500 people in West Africa with Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone worst hit. The virus’ spread to the United States and Spain has created more concerns with travel bans and excessive health screenings taking place at airports.
The threat is undoubtedly taking its toll on football. No country at the moment is willing to allow an influx of people from as many as 16 nations or more, into its country with the world’s largest and deadliest epidemic in mind.
The game is even further affected with many European clubs vowing to subject all African players who had travelled to Africa for the qualifiers to serious Ebola screening before letting them back into their teams.
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