The Confederation of African Football has announced venue changes for two quarterfinals and one semifinal at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon in light of Monday's deadly stampede at the Stade d'Olembe.
Eight people were killed, and 38 injured -- including seven seriously -- in a stampede outside the stadium in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde ahead of host Cameroon's round-of-16 match against Comoros.
In a news conference on Tuesday, CAF president Dr. Patrice Motsepe listed various potential causes of the crush, which ranged from a locked gate at the stadium to the crowd of thousands that arrived to the match without tickets.
A hearing held by the continent's footballing governing body on Wednesday has yet to return its findings on what caused the tragedy but did make venue changes for those three upcoming matches.
CAF have confirmed that the 60,000-seat Stade d'Olembe will not host the upcoming quarterfinal between Egypt and Morocco on Sunday, which instead will be held across town at Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium. The governing body had previously stated on Tuesday that the game was to be held in Limbe before switching again on Wednesday.
"The next match that was scheduled for the Olembe Stadium will not take place until CAF and the Local Organising Committee have received the full report of the Investigation Committee [into the Olembe incident] indicating the circumstances and events that led to the injury and death of spectators at the Olembe Stadium," read a statement as seen by ESPN. "The CAF AFCON Organising Committee also requires the assurance and guarantee that appropriate and adequate interventions and measures have been implemented to ensure that a similar incident will not occur at the Olembe Stadium during the TotalEnergies AFCON Cameroon 2021."
CAF also announced that another quarterfinal -- set to be played that same day -- will be moved from Japoma Stadium in Douala to Ahidjo Stadium despite there not being any reported security problems at the original site. In addition, the Feb. 2 semifinal has been moved from Japoma Stadium to Ahidjo Stadium.
CAF have not yet responded to ESPN's enquiry as to why the Japoma Stadium -- which has been criticised for the state of its pitch -- has had two matches taken away from it.
However, the Feb. 3 semifinal scheduled for the Stade d'Olembe is slated to remain at that venue -- presumably pending security guarantees. The Olembe is also set to host the final on Feb. 6.