IVORY COAST U-20 team is stranded in Abidjan after the country’s football association (FIF) failed to raise enough cash for the team to train in Burundi in preparation for the African Youth Championship in Rwanda later this month.

The Junior Elephants were scheduled to begin a training camp in Bujumbura, Burundi, on January 2, but officials have now revealed they have had to shelve this plan because the FIF could not raise the money for this exercise.

Burundi, according to the team’s general manager Kaba Kone, was picked as an ideal training site because it shares similar altitude and weather with Rwanda.

Ivory Coast, which is drawn in Group B of the African Youth Championship along with Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa, will now have to prepare for the tournament in Abidjan.

The Ivorian football federation is cash strapped because it has to host the inaugural Championship of African Nations (CHAN) next month and also subsidise the participation of the country’s clubs in this year’s CAF Champions League.

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