Smaller venues may host AFCON tourneys

THE Confederation of African Football (CAF) may reduce the minimum capacity of 20,000 required for a stadium to host the Africa Cup of Nations.

It follows the use of smaller venues in the rearranged finals in Equatorial Guinea, which saw fewer empty seats.

“It gives us a sign that building huge venues in all areas is not necessarily the best thing,” General Secretary Hicham El Amrani told BBC Sport.

Sparsely-filled stadiums have often been a feature of the tournament.

In previous editions of the event, matches not involving the host nation have been seldom packed out – a combination of ticket prices, working hours, apathy and the challenges facing overseas fans to blame.

However, crowds flocked to watch matches at the hastily-arranged finals in Equatorial Guinea, which used four venues.

“We need to improve facilities and the way we build them”

The major arenas were in the capital Malabo, with a capacity of 16,000, and Bata on the African mainland, whose 35,000-seater stadium hosted Sunday’s final between Ghana and Cote d’ Ivoire which the latter lost via shoot-outs.