Afcon show goes on

Next year's Africa Cup of Nations tournament will not be cancelled, despite Morocco pulling out as hosts of the continent's biennial soccer showpiece.

The Confederation of African Football confirmed this yesterday after a meeting in Cairo, Egypt.

Morocco, who as hosts would have qualified for the tournament, have since been thrown out of the event. The country's national football association could still face further censure for reneging on the contract to host the event.

CAF will now consider requests from other national football associations which have expressed interest in replacing Morocco as host.

The tournament, scheduled for January 17-February 8, was plunged into a crisis by Morocco's withdrawal, citing concerns over the possible outbreak of the Ebola virus in the country.

Morocco asked for the tournament to be postponed to June, a request CAF refused to accede to, citing a packed schedule.

CAF approached South Africa to take over. But Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula has repeatedly stated that South Africa will not step in.

Mbalula was emphatic South Africa, which hosted the tournament in 1996 and 2013, was not a potential replacement.

A statement from CAF yesterday read: " ... [The] executive committee of CAF has taken note of the response of the Minister of Youth and Sports of the Kingdom of Morocco in a letter dated 8 November 2014 requesting the postponement of the [tournament]. This response clearly indicates that the Royal Moroccan Football Federation reiterated its refusal to hold the competition.

"Therefore, having firmly and unanimously notified on 3 November of its decision to keep the competition on the dates indicated, the executive committee confirmed the Africa Cup of Nations 2015 will not take place in Morocco."

Morocco expressed concern for the harm that could be visited on its tourism industry should one case of Ebola be reported in the country.

Potential candidates named to replace Morocco are Angola, Algeria and Nigeria. Ghana withdrew its application on Monday.

There were initially fears that Bafana's promising qualifying campaign would have been all in vain following the uncertainty over whether the event would go ahead.

But it seems CAF does have candidates coming forward as replacement hosts, even at short notice.

"These applications are currently under review and the executive committee will finalise the selection of the successful association shortly ."

Bafana face Sudan in Durban on Saturday, needing a win to qualify with the away match against Nigeria in Uyo to spare.