Algeria has withdrawn its bid to host the Africa Cup of Nations ( AFCON) in either 2025 or 2027, as announced by the Algerian Football Federation (FAF).
This comes just one day before the host nation announcement for these two tournaments.
The vote by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), organizers of Afcon, aims to finally determine the replacement for Guinea as hosts of the 2025 tournament.
Guinea lost its hosting rights in October last year due to concerns regarding infrastructure and facilities.
FAF said in a statement that it had “sent a letter to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) informing it of its decision to withdraw its bids to host the Africa Cup of Nations”in 2025 and 2027.
Algeria was scheduled to compete against its North African neighbour Morocco, along with Zambia and a combined Nigeria-Benin bid for the hosting rights of the 2025 tournament.
The bids from both Algeria and Morocco have been complicated by the adversarial political relationship between the two countries, which led to diplomatic ties being severed in 2021.
Earlier this year, the reigning champions, Morocco, pulled out of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) held in Algeria due to the host nation’s refusal to provide them with a direct flight.
At the time, CAF president Patrice Motsepe said, “We must not get involved in what is happening between Algeria and Morocco. Caf should never intervene in politics.”
Algeria also entered the 2027 contest, up against Botswana, Egypt, Senegal and a Kenya-Tanzania-Uganda collaboration.
This withdrawal can be explained by a new approach from the FAF related to its strategy for developing football in Algeria.
Read also: NBA Set to Open Office in Nairobi
The announcement coincided with the inauguration of a new president, Walid Sadi, who assumed leadership the very day.
Subscribe to Switch TV for more exciting content
The next AFCON will be held in Ivory Coast in January and February 2024.
This is after it was postponed from June and July this year in order to avoid the West African rainy season.
