Africa's flagship sports competition, the Africa Cup of Nations scheduled to hold in January next year is set to be postponed till 2022 just as UEFA has done to its own version of the competition.
French Radio Monte Carlo unveiled the possibility of shifting the event to the summer of 2022 due to Coronavirus pandemic.
It will be the first time the continental premier football competition will hold in an even numbered year since the edition of 2012.
The French radio quoted a source within the Confederation of African Football (CAF), who pointed out the difficulty of organising the tournament on schedule.
The next edition expected to hold in Cameroon was initially fixed to run from 9 January to 6 February 2021.
But the source said: "There is almost no chance for the African Cup of Nations 2021 to be held next January."
The source revealed: "The intention is to postpone the competition to be held in January 2022."
The source further explained that postponing it for 12 months is not the only option on the table, but rather it is proposed to postpone it for 18 months.
The source said: "It's also possible to make it in the summer of 2022, because the World Cup will take place in November 2022."
"But we have to study this idea very well so as not to destabilize the African teams participating in the World Cup," the source said.
There are four full rounds in the African Nations Cup qualifiers, in addition to the play-offs, less than seven months ahead of schedule, which reduces the possibility of holding the tournament.
The competition, which was held every two years in January, saw a new date in the last version in Egypt when it was played in the summer, before CAF modified its date again to be in January.