Guinea removed as host of 2025 African Cup in latest switch
The African soccer confederation has removed Guinea as host of the 2025 African Cup of Nations because of inadequate infrastructure
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The African soccer confederation has removed Guinea as host of the 2025 African Cup of Nations because of inadequate infrastructure, the latest in a series of switches and delays for the continental championship over the last 10 years.
The decision was announced late Friday night and after Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe traveled to the country to meet with Col. Mamady Doumbouya, the head of the military junta in Guinea who took power in a coup in 2021.
CAF said its executive committee would meet in Algeria on Saturday to discuss the details of re-opening the bidding process for the 2025 tournament, which might also be put back a year after the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the African Cup of Nations sequence.
Guinea's hosting of the continental championship had been under scrutiny for weeks after an inspection committee made a visit in early September and determined that Guinea wouldn't be ready. CAF made an internal decision then to strip the West African nation of the tournament but held off making an official announcement until Motsepe's visit.
Last month, Doumbouya had said that the African Cup was still a "priority” for the new military leadership and insisted it should go ahead in Guinea, but it was taken out of his hands. Motsepe said he visited the country on Friday “out of respect to the people of Guinea” before the decision to move the tournament was announced.
In a statement, CAF said the infrastructure and facilities in Guinea were “not ready to host a world class AFCON competition."
The decision means every African Cup since 2013 has been moved because of problems with the original host country.
South Africa stepped in as host for civil war-torn Libya in 2013, Equatorial Guinea was a replacement for Morocco in 2015, Gabon replaced Libya, which still wasn't ready in 2017, Egypt took over for an under-prepared Cameroon in 2019 and Cameroon hosted its tournament three years later than originally planned in 2022, when there was also a one-year delay because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The delay with Cameroon has pushed Ivory Coast's African Cup back to 2024 when it was meant to host in 2021.
The African Cup of Nations is held every two years, although CAF now faces the prospect of holding its biggest tournament on consecutive years in 2024 and 2025 if it keeps to those dates.
___
Associated Press writers Boubacar Diallo in Conakry, Guinea, and Isifu Wirfengla in Yaounde, Cameroon, contributed to this story.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.