Rabat - Morocco has refused to host January's
African Nations Cup soccer finals amid fears over
the spread of the Ebola virus, throwing the 2015
tournament into jeopardy on Saturday.
The country, which had already said it wanted
the 16-team event postponed, rejected an
ultimatum set by the Confederation of African
Football to confirm the hosting of the continental
championship due to take place Jan. 17-Feb. 8.
A statement from Morocco's sports ministry
said: "The decision is dictated by health reasons
because of the serious threat of Ebola and the
risk of its spreading."
A decision on the tournament will now be made
next week when CAF has an executive
committee meeting in Cairo but Morocco will
almost certainly be stripped as hosts.
CAF said earlier on Saturday it would make no
statement until after Wednesday's meeting.
Morocco is concerned that supporters from west
Africa converging on the country for the
tournament could bring with them the deadly
virus and put at risk their important tourist
industry

They asked CAF to postpone the event to June,
or even January 2016, but this was rejected last
week by African soccer's governing body, who
set Morocco a deadline of Saturday to confirm it
would host the three-week tournament.
CAF can now either move the event to another
country - although it has had no public
expression of interest from nations it approached
to be on standby as possible emergency hosts -
or cancel it at great financial cost.

CAF accused Morocco of being alarmist in its
fears over the spread of the virus, which has
caused almost 5,000 deaths in Liberia, Guinea
and Sierra Leone, and set out a lengthy list of
reasons why it felt they could still host the
tournament without any risk.
Global health authorities are struggling to contain
the world's worst Ebola epidemic since the
disease was identified in 1976 and cases have
reached as far as the United States and Spain.

Morocco has therefore stood firm on its refusal
to host and could face sanctions including the
possibility of a lengthy ban from future Nations
Cup tournaments.
The Moroccans did offer in Saturday's statement
to host the 2017 finals.
The tournament is African football's showpiece
but has a turbulent history, with several
prospective hosts like Kenya, Libya, Zambia and
Zimbabwe pulling out or being stripped of
hosting rights in the past after being awarded the
tournament.
Libya gave up the hosting of the 2017 finals in
August because of security issues and stadium
delays and CAF must find a replacement.
The 2019 finals are set for Cameroon, 2021 in
the Ivory Coast and 2023 in Guinea.

m.news24.com/nigeria/Sport/Football/Morocco-says-no-to-AFCON-