The Confederation of African Football (Caf) have insisted that the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations will be staged in Guinea.
It would be recalled that the Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick says they plan to step in and host the biggest football fiesta in Africa.
Pinnick announced on Tuesday that he had informed Caf executives of Nigeria’s interest to co-host the 2025 tournament with Benin during an emergency Zoom meeting.
The political situation in Guinea, under military rule since a coup last year, has led to concerns over security and organisation for the 2025 finals.
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 remain Guinea and that has not changed, 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.” he told BBC Sport Africa.
In January 2019, Guinea accepted the invitation to host the 2025 Nations Cup after Caf revised its hosts for the 2019, 2021 and 2023 editions.
Organisational issues, a packed football calendar following the coronavirus pandemic and weather conditions have all forced Caf to alter its schedule for its premier international tournament in recent years.
The 2021 finals in Cameroon were delayed by six months until January in February this year – and then went ahead despite the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 – while earlier this month it was announced that the 2023 tournament in Ivory Coast will now be played in early 2024 to avoid the rainy season.
