Nigeria Turned Down Hosting 2015 AFCON Over Ebola Concerns

Equatorial Guinea has just been named the hosts for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. TheConfederation of African Football (CAF) selected the country as a replacement for Morocco who requested that the Nations cup be postponed due to concern over an outbreak of the Ebola virus in their country.

It would appear that Nigeria was also in strong contention as a replacement for Morocco as hosts, but turned it down also due to Ebola fears. According to football analyst Colin Udoh, “Nigeria were this close to accepting to host, but backed down to the Ebola argument, saying – We were lucky to escape it first time, don’t test the fates.”

Morocco was scheduled to host the tournament in January 2015. Earlier this year their football association began to express reservations, citing the Ebola outbreak in three West African countries, and this week it decided to pull out of the tournament. In retaliation, the controlling body for African football, the suspended Morocco and may still punish the country further