Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia And Morocco Submit Bids To Host 2018 CHAN

CHAN Trophy – Image: CAF

Kenya lost the rights to host the biennial tournament

BBC Africa Sport report continues:

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia and Morocco have bid to host the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN).

Morocco confirmed their bid on Saturday, with CAF announcing yesterday that there were also bids from Ethiopia and also Equatorial Guinea, who staged the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

CAF are looking for new hosts to replace Kenya who lost the rights (SEE EMBEDDED) after failing to meet the African football body's requirements.

The winning bid for the biennial tournament for locally-based players only, will be announced next weekend.

It is set to be staged from 12 January to 4 February 2018.

Kenya Stripped Of Hosting Rights For CHAN 2018

Kenya learned its fate following a meeting of the Confederation of African Football in Accra on Saturday

BBC News reports that Kenya has been stripped of the right to host the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) following a Confederation of African Football (CAF) executive committee meeting in Accra.

The decision was announced at a media conference after a one-day meeting headed by CAF's president Ahmad.

CAF say the decision was made "in light of accumulated delays from reports of the various inspection missions conducted in the country."

The 16-team tournament for locally-based players only, is scheduled to take place between 12 January and 4 February 2018.

A CAF inspection team visited Kenya from 11 to 17 September 2017 and found that only one of the four venues was ready to stage the event.

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) insists "it did everything humanly possible to ensure that CHAN 2018 became a reality both to Kenyans and the entire East African Region."

It went on to admit that "unfortunately, lack of up-to standard infrastructure to host the competition and the need to improve the existing ones, meant that Kenya would inevitably play second fiddle to better placed countries that have invested heavily on infrastructure development over the years."

Some CAF officials in Accra also expressed concern about the political situation in Kenya, where recently annulled presidential elections are set to be re-run next month.

It is the second time Kenya has lost the right to stage an African football competition after being replaced by South Africa as 1996 Africa Cup of Nations hosts.

CAF say a bidding process for new hosts to replace Kenya will be opened immediately.

In other CAF decisions on Saturday, they announced that for now, Cameroon remain as hosts of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, though the organizing committee must organized for an audit firm to carry out an inspection mission of the country's infrastructure.

CAF also announced that Egypt have replaced Zambia as hosts of the 2019 Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations, which doubles as qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Zambia withdrew as hosts of the eight-nation competition on financial grounds.