December 13 – Morocco have pulled out of the running to step in as replacement hosts of next June’s African Nations Cup leaving South Africa and Egypt as front-runners.
A decision on who replaces Cameroon after they were stripped as hosts will be taken on January 9.
Moroccan Sports Minister Rachid Talbi Alami formally announced that his country were no longer in the running, something of a surprise given their five failures to land the World Cup. One insider told Insideworldfootball that the reason is likely more to do with political relations with Cameroon and not to be seen to be regionally as being opportunistic. But, if no other country stepped forward Morocco could still host if CAF approached them outside of the formal bidding process.
Candidates now have until tomorrow (Friday) night to declare their interest staging in the first 24-team Afcon and four-time hosts Egypt are one of them.
“Egypt is able to organize the competition and we will be proud to do so,” said Egyptian Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhi.
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