 Caf President Issa Hayatou says the Nations Cup date won't be changing |
Issa Hayatou, the newly re-elected boss of African football's governing body Caf, says that he won't be pushed around by powerful European clubs. The Cameroonian has vowed to ignore the growing calls in Europe for a change in the date of the African Cup of Nations.
"We once organised the tournament in March and then the big European clubs asked us to move it to January during the winter break," said Hayatou.
"But with the number of tournaments, they are no longer capable of observing a winter break.
"Now they want us to move to a new date, but it's not possible to play in July because of the climate."
The build-up to the Nations Cup in Tunisia has been dogged by club-versus-country rows with some of Europe's top sides annoyed that they are having to lose vital players for a month.
 |  To have the tournament every two years is crucial |
But Hayatou is adamant that staging the event every two years as opposed to four is vital to the development of the game in Africa.
"To have the tournament every two years is crucial.
"In Africa, governments wouldn't improve or construct stadiums (if it wasn't) for the African Nations Cup.
"For example, Mali built five new grounds for the 2002 tournament.
"Without the Nations Cup, this would not have happened."
Hayatou also insisted that Caf will not favour any of the five candidate nations bidding to become the first hosts of an African World Cup in 2010.
"Caf's role is finished, we battled Fifa to rotate the World Cup between continents which wasn't easy.
Hayatou's victory, over his only rival Ismail Bhamjee in the elections means he has another four years in charge of African football, he has been at the helm since 1988.
MMIX
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