By James Robert Kayindi
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is set to announce the host of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) at its headquarters in Cairo, Egypt today.
The continental body will have to choose from three nations that have submitted bids to host the tournament. Four time champions and 2015 AFCON finalists Ghana, Algeria whose only victory of the biennial tournament was in 1990 when they hosted the tournament are the first two bidders of the campaign. The third bidding nation is the 2012 co-hosts Gabon who have never won the tournament.
This development follows CAF’s pursuit for a host nation to replace Libya who have failed to host the event since 2013 due to insecurity. However recent scenes from North African countries have not seemed to be a bed of roses for any continental tournament given the continuous uprising that have been taking place which puts a question mark on Algeria.
Nonetheless, North African countries have also expressed their discontentedness over the way CAF has tried to overrule them on different matters concerning the sport on the continent in recent years with cases register on Tunisia and Egypt who pulled out of the bid to host the tournament.
Email Robert: Robert.k.circles@gmail.com
