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The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that three Africa Cup of Nations matches will be relocated from Japoma Stadium in Douala to Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde.
Two quarter-finals and the February 2 semi-final will be moved to the Cameroonian capital because of concerns over the state of the pitch in Douala, CAF stated in a release.
CAF president Patrice Motsepe had said the quarter-final due to be played at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde will be switched to the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium after a deadly stampede, which killed eight people.
The decision to shift that match away from the 60,000-seat Olembe Stadium was confirmed after Motsepe hosted a meeting with tournament organisers.
“The next match that was scheduled for the Olembe Stadium will not take place until CAF and the Local Organising Committee have received the full report of the Investigation Committee (into the Olembe incident) indicating the circumstances and events that led to the injury and death of spectators at the Olembe Stadium,” CAF said in a statement.
The second semi-final, to be played February 3, is still scheduled at Olembe Stadium for the time being.
“The CAF AFCON Organising Committee also requires the assurance and guarantee that appropriate and adequate interventions and measures have been implemented to ensure that a similar incident will not occur,” the statement added.
“The CAF AFCON Organising Committee also decided that the following matches will be relocated to Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium:
“Quarter Final Match No 47 scheduled to take place on 30 January 2022 involving Winner 43 vs Winner 42 at 16hoo local time.
“Quarter Final Match No 48 scheduled to take place on 30 January 2022 involving Winner 41 vs Winner 44 at 20hoo local time.
“Semi-Final Match No 49 scheduled to take place on 2 February 2022 involving Winner 45 vs Winner 48 at 20hoo local time”
Crowds at all venues had been limited to 60 percent of capacity for the tournament because of the pandemic, but the cap is raised to 80 percent when Cameroon play.
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