Africa Cup of Nations: CAF dismisses Nigeria’s 2025 bid talk

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has denied knowledge of any bid from Nigeria to jointly host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, insisting the tournament will be staged in Guinea.

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Amaju Pinnick had been quoted as saying that Nigeria has put up a bid to co-host the 2025 AFCON, citing the political situation in Guinea that has been under military rule since a coup last year.

Some media reports have suggested the event could be moved away from the West African nation, but a top CAF official says neither his organisation nor Guinean football officials have discussed such events.

“The host for the 2025 tournament remains Guinea and that has not changed,” he told BBC Sport Africa.

“We’ve not discussed anything about a replacement or received any communication from Guinea about the inability to host. At this very moment, everything is on track for Guinea to host and there is no reason to suggest otherwise.”

In January 2019, Guinea accepted an invitation to host the 2025 Nations Cup after CAF revised its hosts for the 2019, 2021 and 2023 editions.

Yet Pinnick, also a member of the governing council of world governing body FIFA, remains confident of the country’s ability to stage the 2025 edition with neighbours Benin.

“We are still in the early stage of the whole process,” he said.