Confederation of African Football President Ahmad, who uses only one name, said that "contentious" decisions on African football's TV rights and tournament hosting agreements "will be reviewed in the coming months," according to Mark Gleeson of REUTERS. The possibility of changing the timing of African Nations Cup finals is also "on the cards," as well as the qualification process for junior tournaments. Ahmad said, "I will be discussing with as many stakeholders as there around African football to come up with the best solution for the problems." He said that he was "concerned" about a 12-year TV deal that CAF signed last year with Lagardère Sports. Ahmad: "We will investigate but I am concerned about the length of the contract. I would never sign anything for longer than three years." Lagardère Sports holds the TV and marketing rights over all CAF's major properties and guaranteed African football a minimum of $1B in income over the next 12 years. Last month's CAF Congress was told this "could be more in the region of" $1.5B (REUTERS, 4/7). The BBC reported Council of Southern Africa FAs President Phillip Chiyangwa "vowed to fight the decision to hold the next three Africa Cup of Nations in francophone west African countries." The CAF awarded the '19 tournament to Cameroon, the '21 finals to Ivory Coast and the '23 event to Guinea. Chiyangwa said, "They were politically aggressively awarded to those countries. Only one region is benefiting. There must be an inquiry and we are going to protest" (BBC, 4/7).
