CAF In Race Against Time To Find CAN Hosts

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) are set to announce the
new hosts for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in the next two or three
days after Morocco was stripped of the right to stage the tournament
on Tuesday.

Morocco had said since early October that its call for a postponement
was due to the deadly Ebola pandemic, but CAF, led by long-serving
President Issa Hayatou, lost patience with the North Africans and
threw them out as hosts and participants with a heavy fine likely to
follow.

The fact that Morocco are also set to host the Club World Cup, only 25
days before the scheduled January 17 kickoff, threw further doubts
over Morocco's reasons prompting Hayatou and his members to pull the
plug.

"To postpone the CAN would be like stopping African football dead,"
Hayatou told France 24.

"Once you postpone this event, it will open the door for everybody to
ask for a delay of any competition and we will no longer be credible."
added the 68-year-old Cameroonian who has been in office since 1988.

Now, the question is who has the capacity to step in at such a late
hour with organisation and logistics thrown into chaos, just weeks
ahead of the 30th rendition of the competition.

Angola, who hosted the 2010 tournament that was marred by a
separatists' gun attack on the Togo team bus, are in the running as
are Gabon who co-hosted the 2012 edition with Equatorial Guinea.

There are also rumours that the three-week continental showpiece could
be moved outside Africa with 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar an
unprecedented option.

Angola, with their extensive resources of petrol have the money and
the stadiums in place, but the attacks on Togo which led to two deaths
in the restless northern enclave of Cabinda may work against their
bid.

South Africa, Ghana and Algeria have declined the CAF's approaches
while Nigeria's name has been whispered although the country is in the
midst of an unstable political climate.

The Ebola disease has claimed almost 5,000 lives, essentially in
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, ironically countries with whom
Morocco have maintained incoming and outgoing flights, unlike many
other countries.

Morocco have also hosted Guinea's qualifying matches with the Western
African nation banned from staging matches in their own country.

The CAF also confirmed that qualification matches for the tournament
will go ahead as planned on November 14-15 with the final round of
matches set four days later.

Those matches will determine which 15 teams will join the new hosts
for the final stages which are set for January 17 to February 9, dates
that CAF have adamantly said will not be changed.

Moroccan officials and fans reacted with mixed feelings on the shock
announcement but sports minister Mohamed Ouzzine defended their stance
and said they had simply asked for a postponement, until the disease
was brought under control.

"The CAF statement said we refuse to organise the Nations Cup, and
it's wrong. We want the tournament in our country, but we maintain our
demand to postpone it," Ouzzine told parliament.

"Morocco has not breached any contract because of the force majeure
(Ebola epidemic). We will not rush to answer, but everyone should know
that we are prepared for all eventualities,".

"The WHO (World Health Organisation) says that every country has the
right to take the necessary measures to protect its citizens. The
whole world is incapable to find some treatment or some solution for
that disease (Ebola), so isn't it a force majeure?

"We can talk about sanctions now, but we should not forget what would
happen in case we have not taken our decision."

Morocco's stance is set to see them face further sanctions, notably
financial but there is also the threat they could be banned from
further CAN competitions.

CAF executive committee member Constant Omari defended the decision to
strip the 1976 winners of the right to stage what would have been
their second tournament, after 1988, when they reached the
semi-finals.

"The CAF put no pressure on Morocco but they are a member who belong
to the CAN. We signed an agreement that the CAN would be organised
between January 17 and February 8 and there was no talk of
postponement during the inspections.

"Then two months before the tournament, Morocco decide they want to
change the dates. These dates have not been decided randomly, it is a
season when all of Africa has a period of more or less dry weather. We
have incorporated these dates into the universal FIFA calendar and it
is our showcase event.