GERALD IMRAY
AP Sports Writer
There will be no change to the dates for next year’s African Cup of Nations despite the Ebola outbreak, the Confederation of African Football said Monday.
CAF also said host country Morocco has until Saturday to agree to the schedule or lose the tournament.
CAF maintained its position on Africa’s top football tournament after a meeting of its executive committee in Algeria over the weekend and then meetings with Moroccan officials — who want the cup postponed — in Rabat, Morocco on Monday.
In a statement, CAF said Morocco’s football federation should now “clarify its final position” on the tournament by Saturday. CAF will meet next Tuesday to make a final decision on Morocco’s hosting, it said.
There was no immediate comment from Moroccan officials, who had maintained before the meetings with CAF President Issa Hayatou that they would stand by their decision not to host on the planned dates of Jan. 17-Feb. 8.
CAF will talk to other countries willing to host if Morocco doesn’t agree to hold the tournament on those dates, although it’s unclear if anyone wants to step in.
Possible stand-in hosts South Africa, Egypt and Sudan have all said they won’t stage the tournament. Ghana and Nigeria are believed to be considering if they want to act as short-notice hosts.
Last month, Morocco asked for the 16-team competition to be delayed because of the threat of fans arriving in numbers from Ebola-affected countries. The virus has killed about 5,000 people in West Africa in the worst recorded outbreak. The deaths have almost all occurred in the three worst-affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
In its statement, CAF listed reasons why the cup should go ahead in January and February, saying the numbers of traveling fans would be low, Morocco has no reported Ebola cases, and the dates can’t be moved because they fit in with FIFA’s calendar.
CAF also cited its commitments to its “commercial partners,” with the African Cup of Nations the organization’s most important and valuable tournament.
CAF has kept the qualifying competition for the African Cup going by banning all games in Guinea and Sierra Leone and ordering their teams to play “home” games in neutral countries. Liberia isn’t involved in the final qualifiers.
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Gerald Imray is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP
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