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Libya status unclear as African U-20 football host African football leaders said Friday they are monitoring political turmoil in Libya before making a decision on moving the eight-nation under-20 championship scheduled to kick off there next month
The Confederation of African Football's executive committee will meet “very soon” to decide if the event should be moved. “We still have to sit and talk about it. In the meantime we hope to see peace not only in Libya but in the whole continent,” CAF President Issa Hayatou said. African media reports have identified Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa as standing by to host. “We will sit as the CAF executive and study the option and see what will be the state that will replace (Libya),” Hayatou said. The championship is scheduled for March 18-April 1 with matches in Tripoli, at the Great Man-Made River stadium, and the Benghazi stadium named for Hugo Chavez. The Venezuelan president who is one of few world leaders to express support for the embattled regime of Moammar Gadhafi. The tournament organizing committee is headed by Gadhafi's eldest son Mohammed. Libya's group, which also includes Egypt, Lesotho and Mali, would play most matches in Tripoli. The Benghazi-based group has Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria. Four teams will qualify for the FIFA-organized Under-20 World Cup in Colombia beginning in July. Hayatou spoke at a news conference alongside FIFA President Sepp Blatter who attended the annual assembly of CAF's 53 member nations in Khartoum on Wednesday. Hayatou and Blatter are scheduled to open talks next week with their FIFA executive committee colleagues on how many places African countries should have at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It had five qualification slots in 2010, plus South Africa as host. The CAF president said Ghana was the “pride of Africa” for reaching the quarterfinals, but the continent had to win the trophy before demanding more entry places. Blatter declined to promise a sixth place, but added that Africa had “the will and the potential” to host other FIFA competitions. Zimbabwe is competing with Canada to host the 2015 Women's World Cup that FIFA's ruling panel will award in Zurich next week. Blatter said FIFA and CAF were happy with how Sudan organized the African Nations Championship, a tournament restricted to players from domestic clubs. The final between Tunisia and Angola is played Friday in Merreikh. Questioned about corruption within FIFA, Blatter said he'd “had enough” of the discussion. He added that FIFA “adhered to the highest level of transparency” and all its activities would be revealed in financial accounts published next week.
