The Confederation of African Football CAF has re-opened the bidding process for the hosting rights of the 2025 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports this is contained in a statement published on CAF Online, the official website of the administrative and controlling body for association football in Africa.
According to the statement, CAF has sent a notice to the member associations to express their interest in hosting the 2025 AFCON.
The football management body has also informed member associations about the process that will be followed in the selection of the host country or countries.
AFCON 2025 Bidding Process Timeline
– 11 November 2022: Deadline for submitting the Declaration of Interest form
– 16 November 2022: Deadline for CAF to send the hosting documents to Member Associations that have declared their interest.
– 16 December 2022: Deadline for Member Associations to submit their final bid, including all bidding and hosting documents (hosting agreement, host cities agreement, Government guarantees)
– 05-25 January 2023: Inspection visits
– 10 February 2023: Appointment of Host Country/Countries by the CAF Executive Committee
TNG report that this is coming after CAF stripped Guinea of the rights to host the 2025 AFCON finals, following a meeting in Conakry between Guinea’s interim president, Col. Mamady Doumbouya, and CAF President Patrice Motsepe.
The meeting had discussed the withdrawal after the west African country, among the poorest of the continent, formally said it was not ready to host the 24-nation tournament.
Guinea’s inability was due to its infrastructure and facilities not being ready to host a world-class AFCON competition.
Motsepe was accompanied during his meeting with the Guinean leader by CAF General Secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba.
Earlier, Nigeria had indicated an interest in jointly hosting the 2025 AFCON with the Benin Republic.
TNG reports that the 2023 AFCON is already scheduled to hold in Côte d’Ivoire.