Cameroon lose Cup of Nations

– Cameroon was yesterday stripped of hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations due to delays in preparing for the continental showpiece, organisers the Confederation of African Football (Caf) announced.

“We took the decision to withdraw the 2019 Cup of Nations from Cameroon,” Caf president Ahmad Ahmad told a press conference in Accra. He was speaking after a 10hour Caf executive meeting held behind closed doors in the Ghanaian capital.

Ahmad said “a task force” would be set up to launch an appeal for offers “to determine a new organising country between now and the end of the year”.

South Africa and Morocco are two frontline contenders to step in as hosts on place of the Cameroon, who won the last edition in 2017 in Gabon.

Morocco, who lost out to a United States/Mexico/Canada bid for the 2026 World Cup, have regularly been reported as possible replacements.

It had been set to stage the 2015 Cup of Nations before being stripped of its hosting rights in a row over the Ebola outbreak.

South Africa is the only African country to stage a World Cup, in 2010, and last staged the Cup of Nations in 2013. –

Accra, Ghana