AFCON 2021: CAF Axes Olembe Stadium After Last 16 Fatal Crush
BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarter-final match slated for the Olembe Stadium on Sunday, January 30, 2022, will be moved following the fatal incident that occurred outside the ground last Monday with at least eight people losing their lives.
Also affected were 38 others injured during the chaos as fans struggled to gain access to watch the encounter between hosts Cameroon and Comoros in the round of 16 in Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital.
According to the Continent’s football governing body, Sunday’s quarter-final tie is now set to hold inside the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde instead and all Nations Cup matches in the ongoing tournament will remember victims with a minute’s silence.
Reports said that CAF and the world governing body FIFA have already sent condolences to the affected families. Available statistics indicate that two (2) children, aged eight (8) and 14, were among the dead, while seven (7) people were seriously injured in the incident.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe visited injured supporters in hospital and the scene outside the Olembe Stadium on Tuesday, and later said he was “sad and hurt” by the incident, adding that the football body must take responsibility for the crush along with the local organising committee and the Cameroonian government.
He said; “We have a duty to find out exactly what happened and more importantly to put in preventative measures to ensure that what happened never happens again. There were deficiencies, weaknesses, failures, things that should have been foreseen.
“When people lose their lives you must be angry and demand explanations and guarantees that it will never happen again.”
The Olembe Stadium, newly constructed to host the tournament, has a capacity of 60,000 but was not meant to be more than 80% full because of COVID-19 restrictions.
However, match officials were quoted as saying that as many as 50,000 people were trying to attend Monday’s match. The ground held the opening ceremony and is due to host a semi-final and the Nations Cup final on Sunday, February 6, 2022.
Officially called the Paul Biya Stadium after Cameroon’s long-time President Paul Biya, Olembe Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium on a surface area of 34 hectares in the Olembe neighborhood in Yaoundé, some 13 km from the city center. The stadium is the largest in all of Cameroon and the ninth-largest in Africa. – With Goal.com report
