The organization withdrew to Guinea

The buzz of the aisle in recent weeks, the announcement is about to become official. The withdrawal of CAN 2025 must be formalized at the end of the CAF Executive Committee meeting scheduled for tomorrow in Algiers on the sidelines of the CHAN 2023 Draw.

Guinea will not host the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. Awarded in 2014 to Guinea, CAN in Guinea will eventually not be organized in Guinea following the cumulative delay in establishing the various infrastructures required by CAF for such a competition. The withdrawal of the 2025 CAN from Guinea, insistently invoked in recent months, seemed inevitable despite recent statements by Colonel Mamady Domboya (at the helm of the country since September 2021) who installed CAN at home as a national priority.

Among the factors that could explain this withdrawal, stakeholders often mention the issue of initially allocating CAN to 16 teams when it was allocated to Guinea. In 2014, CAF then decided to award the organization of CAN 2019, 2021 and 2023 to Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea in a sixteen-team format. Meanwhile, the continental body has formalized the move to 24 teams from the 2019 edition following the decision taken by UEFA regarding the 2016 European Championship. Thus, the situation in Guinea is similar to that of Cameroon, which witnessed the scheduled edition of 2019. She withdraws in favor of Egypt. After the recent visit of CAF inspectors to Guinea, the conclusions drawn against him were many, formalizing the country’s inability to regulate CAN.

This Wednesday, 30 September, CAF President Patrice Motsepe informed the Guinean authorities of the decision taken by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) following the latest inspection reports that were prepared at the site. Motsebe said at a press conference:For the 2025 CAN, a decision was made not to continue with Guinea because the infrastructure, despite the great effort made by the authorities, is not up to the level of competition there. Decides to reopen the call for applications for CAN 2025“.

Behind the scenes, many countries interested in organizing the 2025 edition have already refined their arguments to persuade the African body. Among the interested countries, we can mention in particular Morocco, South Africa and Algeria, whose organization CHAN 2023 will serve as a comprehensive test but also as a showcase for CAF. Thus, the invitation of the candidates can be formalized during the meeting of the Executive Committee scheduled for tomorrow in Algiers.

day without.
We will not give up despite the harshness of the test. # can2025 #guinea pic.twitter.com/S8BCxx1JSe

– Sega Diallo (segadiallo) September 30, 2022

DZfoot