CAF Gives African Country Fresh Ultimatum to Officially Submit Bid to Host AFCON 2025

• Zambia has been told to submit a bid for AFCON 2025 hosting rights by November 11 at the latest
• Guinea was earlier stripped of hosting the continental showpiece due to a lack of funds in the country
• Nigeria, Ghana and Benin are other countries jostling to host the tournament scheduled for June/July 2025

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has issued an eight-day ultimatum to Zambia to submit its bid for hosting the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

Hosting rights were initially granted to Guinea, but the country decided to withdraw due to a lack of funds to stage the continental showpiece.

CAF has now set a November 11 date for all interested countries to submit their bid, should they be interested in hosting the competition.

While Zambia has indicated an interest in staging the competition, the country is yet to make an official bid.

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According to Kangwa Chileshe, the country's permanent secretary to the ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts, the Zambian government is interested in bidding for the hosting rights.

Chileshe told the Zambia Daily Mail, as per Bola News:

“We are very much interested and I can tell you that FAZ is already working on something. The minister will soon announce how far we have gone."

Other countries reportedly in the race for the tournament's hosting rights include Morocco, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, South Africa, Algeria, Senegal, Uganda and Kenya.

Ghana target combined AFCON bid

Meanwhile, West African countries Nigeria, Ghana and the Republic of Benin are set to officially present a joint bid to host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, Sports Brief has reported.

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Nigeria and close neighbours Benin had been chasing the hosting rights along with North African countries Algeria and Morocco.

The latest reports indicate that Ghana are also interested in co-hosting the continental showpiece alongside Nigeria and Benin.

Their West African counterpart, Ghana are now ready to team up with them to host the continental showpiece.

How Guinea lost hosting rights

Meanwhile, the continent's football governing body CAF was forced to strip Guinea of the rights to host the tournament, as Sports Brief has reported.

There was nothing sinister about what led to this turn of events, with the Daily Sun reporting that the country's leadership chose this course of action.

Apparently, the West African country is simply not ready for the event.