Thegoalmac can reveal that South Africa and Ghana have emerged as candidates to host the 2015
Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) should the event be cancelled in Morocco
due to the Ebola outbreak.
The Ebola virus epidemic in west Africa has so far affected more than 8000 people in the worst outbreak of its kind in history.
Morocco
has yet to see any cases of the virus, but the country’s government
last week requested that the Afcon be postponed due to fears that the
tournament would spark a pandemic.
With the Confederation of
African Football (Caf) so far rejecting these demands, the venue of the
finals – which are due to kick off on January 17 - is now in major doubt
.
Goal understands that the South African
Football Association (Safa) expects to be officially asked by Caf to
replace Morocco as hosts and is currently discussing the possibility.
Safa's
head of communications Dominic Chimhavi conceded on Wednesday that the
nation could step in and lauded his country's excellent stadia.
"We know that Morocco has requested to withdraw from hosting the tournament due to the deadly Ebola virus,” Chimhavi told Sport24.
"Caf
just mentioned South Africa as a possible destination, but there are
still lot of things to be considered before a final decision can be
made.
"Caf is considering South Africa, because we are always
ready to host major sporting events. We have the best infrastructure in
the continent but nothing has been confirmed."
Meanwhile, Ghana’s youth and sports minister Mahama Ayariga has revealed that their country is also being considered by Caf.
“Caf
wrote to us a few days ago and indicated that Morocco have given strong
indications that they will pull out if Caf did not change the date,”
Ayariga told Accra-based Citi FM.
“And Caf also indicated that it
was firm on those dates - and that they will be meeting the Moroccan
authorities and will take a decision. But in the meantime, they are
writing to a number of countries that they think have capacity to be an
alternative venue for Afcon 2015, and Ghana is such a country.”
South Africa hosted the AFCON as recently as 2013. Other potential replacements should Morocco pull out are Egypt and Sudan.
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