Sports
Morocco ready to replace Cameroon in hosting 2019 AFCON
The President of the Moroccan FA, Fouzi Lakjaa, has said they are ready to stage the 2019 Nations Cup in place of Cameroon “in case of lack of capacity.”
The president, who hopes the Confederation of African Football (CAF) meetings make organisational changes that Cameroon will not be able to fulfill, believes Morocco have more sophisticated infrastructure to host the tournament.
Cameroon is reportedly experiencing delays in the execution of various Nations Cup infrastructural projects and a week ago, Algerian FA president Kheireddine Zetchi said his country would also be willing to take over.
“We have the 6 stadiums in Marrakech, Agadir, Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, Tangier and Tetoua,” Lakjaa was quoted as saying in the Moroccan press.
“These are cities that have FIFA stadiums with all the infrastructures that go with it …matching the ambitions of Africa.”
Read Also: CHAN: Home Eagles to play qualifier in Kano
Morocco was famously banned by CAF from two editions of the Nations Cup after withdrawing from hosting the 2015 tournament because of fears over an outbreak of Ebola.
And Cameroonian CAF President Issa Hayatou was in charge at the time of the ban, for which Lakjaa says history will have its revenge.
“In 2015, because of the Ebola epidemic, the Cameroon management had deprived us of the organisation of this competition,” he continued.
“In 2019, we will replace Cameroon to host the CAN. It is the revenge of history.”
Meanwhile, Cameroon sports minister Ismael Bidoung has already reaffirmed his country’s readiness to host the continental foremost tournament, stating that “in spite security concerns, social and economic crises, the government and President Paul Biya are totally engaged to do everything for the Nations Cup to go ahead.”
RipplesNigeria ….without borders, without fears
Click here to download the Ripples Nigeria App for latest updates
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...