ALGERIA has pulled out of the running to stage the Africa Cup of Nations in either 2025 or 2027, the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) said on Tuesday, a day before the announcement of the host nation for each of the two tournaments.
While it is guaranteed that Morocco will host the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2025, Nigeria will today know if she will win the right to jointly host the biennial competition with Benin Republic in 2027, News Point Nigeria learnt.
According to a statement by the Nigeria Football Federation, Nigeria and Benin are the favourites to win the hosting rights for the 36th AFCON after Algeria’s pull out.
Algeria’s Football Association said in a statement that it had “sent a letter to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) informing it of its decision to withdraw its bids to host the Africa Cup of Nations” in 2025 and 2027.
Algeria was due to come up against its North African neighbour Morocco as well as Zambia and a joint Nigeria-Benin bid for the hosting of the 2025 tournament.
It had also entered the 2027 contest, up against Botswana, Egypt, Senegal and a combined Kenya-Tanzania-Uganda challenge.
“This withdrawal can be explained by a new approach from the FAF related to its strategy for developing football in Algeria,” the federation added.
The announcement came on the same day as a new president, Walid Sadi, took over the running of the FAF.
It was understood that Algeria, like its political rival Morocco, would have preferred to host the 2025 AFCON.
Earlier this year, leading Moroccan and CAF official Fouzi Lekjaa caused a stir when he told local politicians that the kingdom would be chosen for 2025.
Algeria had successfully staged the African Nations Championship, for which only domestically-based players are eligible, at the beginning of this year.
CAF’s executive committee will meet in Cairo on Wednesday when it will announce the hosts of the two editions of the Cup of Nations in question.
The next AFCON will be held in the Ivory Coast in January and February 2024, after it was postponed from June and July this year in order to avoid the West African rainy season.