By Mark Baber
September 24 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed the host countries for its upcoming competitions and the Moroccan host cities for the Africa Cup of Nations 2015.
Meeting at CAF headquarters in Cairo, the executive committee awarded the following competitions to host nations:
· The 2015 African Beach Soccer Championship will be held in the Seychelles
· The 2015 African U -23 Championship will take place in the Democratic Republic of Congo
· Cameroon has been selected to host the 2016 African Women’s Championship
· Zambia will host the 2017 African U-20 Championship
CAF also confirmed timings of the following competitions;
· African Women’s Championship, Namibia 2014 will be held 11 to 25 October, 2014.
· African U-20 Championship, Senegal 2015 will be held 8 to 22 March, 2015.
· African U-17 Championship, Niger 2015 will be held 2 to 16 May, 2015.
The four host cities for the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015 have been confirmed as Rabat, Marrakech, Agadir and Tangier with Casablanca serving as an alternative venue for the 17 January to 7 February tournament.
Perhaps more in hope than expectation, the Libyan Football Federation has submitted proposed cities and venues for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for CAF Executive Committee approval.
The cities are understood to include Misrata, Tripoli and Benghazi with highly ambitious plans to build 11 new stadiums including a 60,000 seater in Tripoli. However, given the political instability of the country, it seems unlikely CAF will be willing to take the security risks.
According to the Equatorial Guinea federation, CAF has contacted Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, who successfully jointly hosted the African Cup of Nations in 2012, as an alternative venue for 2017, with the Gabon-Equatorial Guinea Local Organising Committee agreeing to submit CAF’s proposal to their respective governments.
Meanwhile, the hosts for the 2019 and 2021 editions of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN), as well as the 2018 and 2020 editions of the African Nations Championship (CHAN), will be announced in the first half of 2014. The deadline for the submission of applications for the CAN is 25 November 2013 and 4 December 2013 for the CHAN. An inspection team will visit interested countries between January and April 2014 to evaluate infrastructure and facilities.
The executive committee also emphasised that national associations had been tasked to ensure the Club Licensing requirements were by the end of 2013. Any federation failing to meet the requirement risks having their clubs banned from CAF Club competitions for 2014.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734833933abtof1734833933dlrow1734833933edisn1734833933i@reb1734833933ab.kr1734833933am1734833933