New host(s) for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) will be determined on February 10, 2023, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) has announced.
This is after Caf re-opened the bidding process for the hosting mantle which was officially taken away from Guinea in July.
“We are not ready as of yet in Guinea… and we should reopen the process” of allowing prospective host countries to bid.
“I had insisted that that message should not go public – I should come personally here”, Caf President Patrice Motsepe said in a press conference in Conakry late September.
Fast-forward to Wednesday, October 26, Caf sent a notice to the Member Associations to express their interest in hosting the Afcon 2025 including the process that will be followed in the selection of the host country or countries.
A couple of months ago, there were rumours of co-hosting intentions by cross-border neighbours Nigeria and Benin while Algeria were also reported to have shown strong interest in taking the Afcon to north Africa in three years’ time.
Afcon 2025 Bidding Process Timeline:
- November 11, 2022: Deadline for submitting the Declaration of Interest form
- November 16, 2022: Deadline for Caf to send the hosting documents to Member Associations that have declared their interest.
- December 16, 2022: Deadline for Member Associations to submit their final bid, including all bidding and hosting documents (hosting agreement, host cities agreement, Government guarantees)
- January 5-25, 2023: Inspection visits
- February 10, 2023: Appointment of Host Country/Countries by the Caf Executive Committee
