By David Gold
October 13 – The London 2012 Olympic football qualifying tournament for Africa, which doubles as the under-23 African Championship, will be held in Morocco after Egypt had to withdraw as hosts earlier this week following violence in Cairo, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed today.
“Following the withdrawal of the Egyptian Football Association from the hosting of the CAF under 23 African Championship…CAF confirms that they will be held in Morocco from November 26 to December 10,” said a statement on CAF’s website.
“The tournament will be hosted in Marrakech and Tangiers as main venues.”
Twenty-six people died in the Egyptian capital last weekend as Christian Copts protested the burning of a church, with the group coming under attack from security forces.
The competition features two groups of four, with Egypt, Ivory Coast, Gabon and South Africa in Group A, and Algeria, Morocco, Senegal and Nigeria in Group B.
The top three finishing teams across the two groups will qualify for London, with the fourth best side going into a play off next year with an Asian representative.
Nigeria had been in the running to hold the competition after they claimed earlier this week that CAF asked them to reconsider whether they wanted to organise the tournament, having lost out to Egypt when the initial decision on the host was made.
It is unclear whether they decided to put themselves forward to host the competition or not.
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