By Ebube Dike

The Confederation of Africa Football, CAF have rejected Egypt Football Association, EFA’s request for the venue of the 2022 Champions League final to be changed to a neutral ground, bestchoicesports.com.ng can report.

Disclosing this on Friday, CAF further insisted that the current continental league final will be played in a one-leg format admitting that discussions are on to revert to the previous home-and-away final

“CAF received a letter from the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports referring to the request by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) and Al Ahly SC for a neutral venue of the CAF Champions Final.

“CAF appreciates and fully understands the complaints and concerns raised by Al Ahly SC and the EFA and is committed to the principles of fairness, justice and equality of all clubs and member associations.

“However, CAF was obligated to adhere to and implement the decision that was taken by the previous CAF leadership in July 2019, which was that the TotalEnergies Champions League final would be a one-leg final rather than the usual two-legged home and away final.

“Furthermore, CAF is also bound by the CAF and FIFA rules which do not allow competition rules to be changed once the competition has started,” part of the statement read

Morocco and Senegal were the only countries that fulfilled the host country bid criteria, after CAF requested its 54 member associations to submit bids to host the CAF Champions League one-leg final. Egypt did not submit a bid.

South Africa and Nigeria submitted documents expressing an interest to host the CAF Champions League but did not fulfil the host country bidding criteria.

Egypt did submit a bid to host the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup Final but did not fulfil the host country bidding criteria.

CAF subsequently awarded the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League final to Morocco, after Senegal withdrew its bid.

As previously stated, there are currently discussions underway within CAF to revert to the old two-legged home and away final to determine the winner of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League, rather than the one-leg final.

Meanwhile, Morocco’s Wydad Athletic Club have reached the final of the CAF Champions League after a 4-2 aggregate win over Angola’s Petro de Luanda on Friday.

The Moroccans progressed with a 4-2 aggregate score, having won the first leg in Luanda 3-1 last week. They are into the final for the first time since the 2018-19 season.