Football
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African Nations Cup host to be announced in coming days, says CAF

A new host for the 2015 African Nations Cup will be named in two to three days, according to Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou, although the governing body has not yet made contact with the countries who could possibly replace Morocco.

Morocco was stripped of its role as host and thrown out of the tournament on Tuesday after insisting it should be delayed over fears of the spread of Ebola.

Hayatou offered no clarity on who the new host for the competition would be with only two months to go until it gets underway, although he did say it would go ahead as planned in January and February.

Hayatou added that CAF has had "a few requests" from African federations to step in for Morocco, but the governing body still had to fully investigate the options.

"We have not had the time to get in touch with these federations to try to define the contours of the organisation," Hayatou told France 24. "Therefore, I cannot tell you where it will be played. All I can tell you is that it will take place somewhere."

Hayatou added: "Wait for two or three days."

Nigeria, Angola and Gabon have been mentioned as possible new hosts, while South Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Ghana and Algeria have all seemingly ruled themselves out. No country has yet said publicly it wants to host the tournament at short notice.

Hayatou did say that delaying the tournament -- as Morocco had requested -- would have hurt CAF's relationship with its sponsors, while some of Africa's top players may not have been released by their European clubs to play in a re-scheduled tournament.

"Once you postpone this event, it will open the door for everybody to ask for a delay of any competition and we will no longer be credible and cannot organise anything," he said. "We will hurt our sponsors and partners.

"That is what I told the Moroccans. We cannot sign our death warrant, because if we postpone this event, it will be very deadly for African football."

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