The African Football Confederation (CAF) will not be postponing its next tournament slated to commence on January 17 over Ebola fears.
CAF said it was sticking by its decision to continue with the 16-team tournament despite opposition from Morocco seeking a postponement because of fears over the spread Ebola virus during the tournament.
Morocco now have until November 8 to respond to CAF, Moroccan football federation spokesman Mohamed Makrouf said. A number of options are still available though. The north African country could either host the tournament as planned, it could push for it to move to another country, or the entire tournament could be cancelled, he said.
According to reports in The Star, Morocco have until the end of the week to confirm whether they will go ahead with hosting next year’s African Nations Cup after the Confederation of African Football said on Monday the date would not be changed.
Morocco wants the tournament moved to June or even January 2016
However, CAF have stuck to their position having previously told Morocco they would not budge on the dates. “The meeting of the CAF executive committee in Algiers on Sunday considered the request from the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Morocco for a postponement and was unanimous on keeping the competition on the dates scheduled,” said CAF in a statement released on Monday.
“Time given to Morocco applies to other associations wishing to organise the Nations Cup on the dates agreed as long as hosting requirements are met,” said CAF, suggesting it might have organised an alternative.
It has already asked seven countries if they would be willing to step in as emergency hosts with little time to prepare for the three-week event, but met with a lukewarm response from Egypt and Ghana and a no from South Africa and Tunisia.
CAF’s statement added that the next executive committee of African football’s governing body on Nov. 11 in Cairo would “take the necessary decisions on the 2015 Nations Cup”.
A CAF representative was quoted as saying “Any change of dates would be to the detriment of the CAF calendar, which must follow FIFA’s international calendar,” .
