The wait to determine the hosts of next year’s African Nations Championships is officially over after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) named Morocco as the hosts of the biennial championship.
Rising from its Emergency Committee meeting chaired by Confederation’s President Ahmad Ahmad in Lagos, Nigeria on Saturday, the Committee unanimously decided to award the rights to North African giants Morocco.
It will be recalled that CAF only last month stripped East African nation, Kenya of the hosting rights due to lack of readiness of important facilities meant to stage the tournament.
A bidding process was opened within one week after Kenya were stripped of the hosting rights, during which Morocco and Equatorial Guinea emerged as candidates. A third bidder, Ethiopia were unable to provide a letter of guarantee from its government.
Morocco are one of the fifteen qualified nations for the 16-team tournament and it remains to be seen which country will now take up the last qualification place earlier reserved for hosts Kenya. The 2018 African Nations Championships will hold from January 12 to February 4.
