The Nigerian government says it is fully backing the country’s joint bid with neighbours Benin Republic to host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Guinea who was initially chosen in 2014 to stage the premier African national team tournament, withdrew last year after little progress had been made in preparing for the biennial event.
These quickly prompted Nigeria and Benin Republic to jointly join the race to replace Guinea to host the fiesta.
Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal and Zambia have also been reported to have submitted their bids to host Africa’s flagship soccer competition.
Executive Media Aide to the Nigerian Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Kola Daniel told Voice of Nigeria in Abuja that Nigeria’s President Mohammed Buhari is aware of the country’s interest in staging the African Football showpiece.
Mr Daniel said the Youth and Sports Minister, Mr Sunday Dare have briefed the President on Nigeria’s readiness to host the tournament.
“The Ministry is in full support of the joint bid. The Honorable Minister have briefed Mr President on the development. We have good facilities across the nation. We have equally hosted many international sporting events. So, we are hopeful we will get the nod to host the African football flagship event” He said.
Gauging Nigeria’s readiness
An inspection team from the Confederation of African Football, CAF, arrived in Nigeria at the weekend to assess the facilities on the ground for the country’s joint bid with Benin Republic.
The CAF team will evaluate the readiness of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba, Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City and Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.
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The four-man team of Jean-Louis Romain, Emma Bollet, Didier Levy and Timour Tawfik (accompanied by Nigerian football officials) have inspected the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in the nation’s capital, Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, Delta State, and the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City.
They also visited Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.
The continent’s soccer governing body will later in the year choose the country or countries that will host the competition.
Nigeria hosted and won AFCON in 1980, and co-hosted with Ghana in 2020, stepping in to replace original hosts Zimbabwe.
The country has hosted several major footballs and general sporting events such as the African Games (1973 and 2003), the FIFA U-20 World Cup (1999) and the FIFA U-17 World Cup (2009).
The next Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will be played in Côte d’Ivoire in 2024.
The tournament was to be hosted in June-July 2023 but was moved forward because of the height of the rainy season in Côte d’Ivoire during that period.
Senegal’s Terenga Lions beat the Pharaoh of Egypt 4-2 on penalties to win the last edition of the Tournament held in Cameroon in 2022.
Emmanuel Ukoh
