The Confederation of African Football has re-opened bidding for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after stripping Guinea of the right to host the competition.
Caf president Patrice Motsepe was in the Guinean capital Conakry last week when he announced that the 24-team tournament will be removed because of a lack of suitably advancing infrastructure and facilities.
“The 2025 Nations Cup allocated to Guinea will not take place there because we’re not yet ready in Guinea,” said Motsepe in a news conference after meeting the leadership of Guinea’s transitional government.
Guinea has had nearly a decade to prepare for the finals, having originally been named as host of the 2023 Nations Cup in 2014, prior to then being asked to host in 2025 instead.
The political situation in Guinea, which has been under military rule since a coup last year, had led to concerns over security and organisation for its Nations Cup hosting.
“Caf is going to ask to receive new bids because the infrastructure and facilities are not appropriate or ready for Caf to host the 2025 Nations Cup in Guinea, and that’s the basis of the decision,” Motsepe said.
“The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) Executive Committee (“EXCO”) met on Saturday 1 October 2022 in Algiers, Algeria and announced the re-opening of bids for the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations 2025,” a statement by the football body read.
The 2021 and 2023 tournaments were subsequently pushed back a year owing to unsuitable weather conditions in both countries in June-July, meaning the 2021 finals in Cameroon took place at the start of this year while the Ivorian edition has moved to January-February 2024.
