Morocco has failed to meet a deadline to confirm it will go ahead with the hosting of January's African Cup of Nations finals amid fears over the spread of the Ebola virus, throwing the tournament into jeopardy.
Morocco officials, who want the 16-team event postponed, said they had rejected an ultimatum set by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to confirm their hosting of the continental championship, which is set to run from January 17 to February 8.
A decision on the tournament will be made next week when CAF have an executive committee meeting in Cairo, but Morocco are almost certain to be stripped as hosts. Ghana and South Africa have been suggested as emergency hosts.
A statement released by Morocco’s Ministry of Sports said the country was faced with “a strictly health linked case of force majeure” in making its call for a postponement of the tournament “from 2015 to 2016”.
Morocco had already called on CAF to push back the tournament, but African football authorities had refused to change the dates.
Preparations have been overshadowed by the Ebola virus which has killed nearly 5,000 people in West Africa. Morocco, which previously hosted the tournament in 1988, was to hold matches in four cities: Rabat, Marrakesh, Agadir and Tangier.
CAF said earlier on Saturday it would make no statement until after Wednesday’s meeting.
Morocco is concerned that supporters from west Africa converging on the country for the tournament could bring with them the deadly virus and put at risk their important tourist industry.
It asked CAF to postpone the event to June, or even January 2016, but this was rejected last week by African football’s governing body, who set Morocco a deadline of Saturday to confirm it would host the three-week tournament.
CAF can either move the event to another country – although they have had no public expression of interest from nations they approached to be on standby as possible emergency hosts – or cancel it at great financial cost.
CAF accused Morocco of being alarmist in its fears over the spread of the virus, which has caused almost 5,000 deaths in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, and set out a lengthy list of reasons why it felt the country could still host the tournament without any risk.
But Morocco stood firm and could face sanctions, including the possibility of a lengthy ban from future Nations Cup tournaments. Morocco did offer in Saturday’s statement to host the 2017 finals.
The tournament is African football’s showpiece but has a turbulent history, with several prospective hosts such as Kenya, Libya, Zambia and Zimbabwe pulling out or being stripped of hosting rights in the past after being awarded the tournament.
Libya gave up the hosting of the 2017 finals in August, and CAF must find a replacement.
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