CAF : «Enough is enough

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This time it’s too much. As the English say: “Enough is enough.” The African Confederation has crossed the line by prohibiting Algerian coaches and journalists from asking questions and responding in Arabic at press conferences during competitions organized under the aegis of CAF.

Sunday in Dakar (Senegal), on the sidelines of the post-match press conference Jaaraf de Dakar – USM Alger, the CAF media officer at the injunction of Senegalese colleagues prohibited Nabil Maaloul, coach of USM Alger, from to answer questions asked in Arabic by special correspondents from the national press.

This serious incident is not the first of its kind. In Cameroon (CAN-2022), Ivory Coast (CAN-2023), CAF media officers used their authority to refuse Algerian journalists to express themselves in their mother tongue. This attitude denotes their (the CAF media officers) absolute ignorance of the CAF statutes which they violate every time the Algerians want to express themselves, in their language, at a press conference.

Incompetence and ignorance will ultimately ruin the continental Football umbrella body. Its members responsible for organizing press conferences and everything that goes with it are unaware of what the CAF statutes require. It’s dramatic. How can a CAF media officer ban the use of Arabic language during CAF competitions.

He just needs to read article 3 of the CAF statutes of March 2021 which deals with the official languages ​​of the institution to know that “the official languages ​​of the CAF are French, English and Arabic” (article 3, paragraph 1) and that “all official CAF documents addressed to the associations are written in French, English and/or Arabic (paragraph 2), “the official languages ​​of the general assembly are French, English, Arabic and Portuguese (paragraph 3)”.