By Osasu Obayiuwana BBC Sport

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Caf executive committee member Ismail Bhamjee has admitted that the joint qualifying system for the 2006 Nations Cup and World Cup would have a negative impact on several African countries.

Nearly half of Caf's 52 member nations would be out of the race for both competitions after the conclusion of the preliminary round by 16 November and face the daunting prospect of not playing competitive football for more than two years.

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"It will be bad for those that will be knocked out [of the qualifiers]," he told the BBC Sport website during an interview in London.

"We should not have had preliminary rounds. It would have been better to put them into straight into groups, no matter how big they would have been.

We have made a mistake, I must admit Caf executive member Ismail Bhamjee

"This would have ensured that smaller countries would have as many competitive games as possible," he said.

Bhamjee played an active role in devising the current qualifying format when it was discussed at executive committee level.

But he said that his colleagues had not thought of the grave consequences of playing a preliminary round before the group stage.

"We did not foresee this problem [when we devised the joint qualifying system], that is what I think.

"We have made a mistake, I must admit," Bhamjee said.

The Botswanan, who is challenging incumbent Issa Hayatou at next January's Caf presidential elections in Tunisia, is also advocating that subsequent elections be held in non-Nations Cup years.

"Having elections before the Nations Cup are not healthy. They take attention away from the tournament, which should not be the case," Bhamjee said.