Shafic Kiyaga
Cameroon have been stripped off the rights to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) reports indicate.
The hosting of the Afcon was part of the agenda in the Confederation of African Football (Caf) Extraordinary Executive Committee meeting held in Accra, Ghana on Friday, November 30.
Reports which were presented to the Extraordimary Executive Committee include a report of the inspection visit from November 11-15th as well as a report of inspection from security committee from 27th October to 1st November.
In October, Caf boss Ahmad Ahmad visited Yaounde for a meeting with Cameroon President Paul Biya just days after Caf deferred the final decision on the hosting of next year’s Afcon. At that time, a report by the last inspection team to Cameroon revealed “a significant delay as far as the delivery of infrastructure is concerned.”
Cameroon’s hosting of African football’s showpiece event has been in jeopardy for months since the decision to increase the tournament from 16 to 24 teams.
Caf will now give a one month window where countries interested in hosting the tournament will submit their official bids.
Morocco, who unsuccessfully bid for the 2026 Fifa World Cup, are likely to replace Cameroon as hosts. South Africa, hosts of the 2010 World Cup, could also be considered.
This will be the second time in recent times that Caf has stripped a country of hosting rights of a continental tourney. Kenya was declared unfit to host the Africa Nations Championships (Chan) in January this year. Morocco replaced Kenya as hosts.
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