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| Hayatou, CAF President |
Ghana has been named among four
nations shortlisted to host the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2017.
Out of the seven countries which
submitted bids to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Genera
Secretariat by the deadline of September 30, only Ghana, Egypt, Gabon and
Algeria were determined to be compliant with the set criteria to be considered.
"The Executive Committee will
finalize a date on which to take the vote to determine the host country,"
CAF posted on its website on Monday after an executive meeting last week.
The hosts of the tournament will be
announced early in 2015.
Libya was billed to host the
competition but later withdrew due to the unstable security situation in the
North African country.
Ghana has appointed an 11-member
committee to work towards securing the right to host the competition.
Ghana's Youth and Sports Minister is
confident the West African nation will win the bid to host the AFCON.
"We are very confident that, in
spite of Algeria and others showing interest, Ghana stands tall above all the
other countries that are bidding to host this AFCON 2017," Ayariga said
recently.
If successful, the West African
country will be hosting Africa's biggest football tournament for the second
time in nine years.
Ghana hosted the 2008 tournament and
placed third after beating the Ivory Coast.
Equatorial Guinea will host the
AFCON 2015 following Morocco's request to the Confederation of African Football
(CAF) to postpone the tournament for fear of the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease
that has wreaked havoc in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, killing more than
5,000 people.
CAF however refused to grant Morocco's request
and finally awarded the hosting rights to Equatorial Guinea.
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