Morocco Forfeits AFCON 2015 Hosting Rights
Morocco will no longer host the Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for January 17 to 8 February, 2015 due to fears over the high risk of easy spread of the Ebola virus.
The North African country has rejected an ultimatum set by the Confederation of African Football to confirm their hosting of the championship, after they asked for a postponement of the tournament.
Revealing the recent development, the country’s sports ministry said: “The decision is dictated by health reasons because of the serious threat of Ebola and the risk of its spreading.”
Executives of CAF will now meet next week in Cairo to officially strip Morocco of hosting rights and decide what step to take next.
Morocco declined hosting the tournament as they claimed the influx of West African supporters into the country could put citizens and tourists at risk of contracting the deadly Ebola Virus disease. They however agreed to host the event if CAF postponed it to June or January 2016.
CAF however rejected the postponement idea, saying the decision would disrupt FIFA’s event calender. The federation will now approach other African countries, although none has shown interest.
Morocco could face sanctions including the possibility of a lengthy ban from future tournaments and have now offered to host the 2017 finals.