The Confederation of African Football (CAF) have stripped off the AFCON 2025 hosting rights from Guinea, mainly due to poor infrastructure to host the competition, which is three years away from commencing.
The President of the continent's highest football governing body, Dr. Patrice Motsepe made this announcement in Guinea's capital, Conakry after going for checks on the current state of their facilities with his inspection team and unfortunately had to withdraw their hosting right due to ill preparations. He said;
"We are not ready as of yet in Guinea and we should reopen the process of allowing prospective host countries to bid, Motsepe said in a press conference."
"Tomorrow CAF is going to be asked to receive new bids, because where we are now, the infrastructure and the facilities are not appropriate or ready."
The ultimate hosting right hitting a snag will definitely be a huge blow for the West African country most especially their current Prime Minister and sitting President, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya.
CAF are set to hold an Executive meeting today to determine what's next and are most likely to choose a new host for the 2025 edition with Morocco, Egypt and South Africa, being the only countries on the lookout at the moment.
This isn't the first time seeing this, after original host Morocco refused to stage the competition in their country in 2017 due to Ebola fears and was later handed to Gabon. Another reason of poor facilities saw Cameroon lose the 2019 hosting right to Egypt and subsequently hosted in 2021, which happens to be last edition.
The next Africa Cup of Nations slated for 2023 will be held in Algeria with qualifiers already in session, having already honoured two matches, with four more to call it a wrap.
By: Iddriss Abdul Rahim
