CAF to decide new AFCON hosts on January 9

The Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) executive committee will hold an extraordinary meeting on 9 January to choose new hosts for the 2019 Nations Cup. The continental body is in search for a new venue for the tournament after it stripped Cameroon of the hosting rights due to a lack of progress with preparations. Countries have until 2200GMT on 14 December to submit official bids to host the 24-team tournament which begins in June next year. Despite reports of interest from Morocco and Congo-Brazzaville no-one has made an official declaration of interest to host the event. The South Africa Football Association (Safa) is planning a meeting with the country’s sports minister Tokozile Xasa on Tuesday in order to make a decision on making a bid to CAF. Xasa has expressed an interest in South Africa hosting the event for the third time but admitted she needed more details from SAFA before finalising the offer.