(News Of The South) – The Africa Cup of Nations will now be hosted by Equatorial Guinea who were awarded the hosting duties by African Football authorities following the expulsion of Morocco who had requested that the tournament be delayed due to Ebola fears.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed the 2015 edition of the bi-annual competition will go ahead from January 17 to February 8 in Equatorial Guinea.
CAF had banned Morocco from playing in the tournament, for which it automatically qualified as being original hosts, after the North African country’s football authorities attempted to get the Cup start date pushed back, arguing it merited postponing because it did not want Ebola spreading to its borders.
Current statistics reveal that over 5000 people have so far died from the Ebola virus mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
In the past Equatorial Guinea co-hosted the Cup when it shared staging duties in 2012 with Gabon.
Equatorial Guinea who fielded an ineligible player during a Cup Qualifier in May and had been banned by CAF have been allowed to take part after agreeing to host the tournament.
In a statement, CAF president Issa Hayatou said: “The head of state of Equatorial Guinea agreed to host the competition.
“As a result, the CAF executive committee confirms that the tournament will go ahead and Equatorial Guinea will compete as the host nation.
“CAF wishes to express its sincere
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