JOHANNESBURG – Days after the Confederation of African Football stripped Cameroon of rights to host the 2019 AFCON, it is understood that the governing body have now asked South Africa to step in as hosts.
This was confirmed by SAFA President Danny Jordaan at the association’s Annual General Meeting in Sandton on Sunday afternoon.
The decision to drop reigning champions Cameroon as hosts was made in Accra, Ghana, following an extraordinary executive committee meeting.
According to CAF, a number of compliance conditions were not met by Cameroon, so they had to make the decision to seek a different country to host the competition.
SAFA are open to hosting the competition, but the decision rests with the South African government, who will be consulted by the association in the near future.
CAF want to have a new host for the competition by December 31st and they have pledged to communicate openly and transparently on the matter.
With the stadiums built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa would be one of the first countries CAF consider as replacements for any country that is no longer able to host the AFCON. South Africa hosted the competition in 2013 and would be able to host it again, but it’s not up to the association alone to make a call.
Uganda and several other nations have qualified for the show piece and only wait to find out where they will be playing come June next year.
The 2019 edition will be the second time in a row that Uganda takes part in the competition after breaking a 39 year old jinx to qualify for the 2017 finals in Gabon.
