The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) have officially announced Morocco as the new hosts of the fifth edition of the 2018 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN).
CAF confirmed Morocco as the new hosts on their official website on Sunday.
The decision to give Morocco the hosting rights ahead of Ethiopia and and Equatorial Guinea, was taken at the Emergency Committee meeting of CAF on Saturday, October 14 in Lagos.
Kenya was initially billed to host the tournament but poor preparations meant they were stripped of the rights.
“The Emergency Committee of the Confederation of Africa Football, chaired by Mr Ahmad, met on 14 October 2017 in Lagos, Nigeria, and unanimously decided to grant the organization of the 5th edition of the Total African Nations Championship to the Royal Moroccan Football Federation,” CAF said in a statement on their official website on Sunday.
“The latter had been a candidate following the withdrawal of the organization of this competition to Kenya, which was decided on 23 September 2017 in Accra, Ghana, by the CAF Executive Committee, which, in accordance with the statutes and the deadlines, had the same day allowed the Emergency Committee to conduct the bidding process to select a new host country.
The candidacy of Morocco was preferred to that of Equatorial Guinea, another country to have submitted a valid application.
“The Ethiopian Football Federation, which had also expressed its willingness to host the tournament, did not provide the government’s letter of guarantee, which is a mandatory document required by the rules of application of the Statutes of the CAF.”
The Total CHAN Morocco 2018, scheduled for 12 January to 4 February 2018, will involve 16 national teams composed exclusively of players playing in the national championships of their respective countries.
The home-based Super Eagles are one of the 16 teams that will feature at next year’s CHAN after they eliminated Benin Republic 2-1 on aggregate in the play-offs.
source: completesportsnigeria.com
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