Ghana loses out to Gabon on AFCON 2017 hosting rights

Ghana lost her bid to host the 2017 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) selected Gabon to host the continental tournament.

The bid by the 2010 co-hosts of the tournament was considered the better, compared to that of two other bidders- Ghana and Algeria.

The announcement was made by CAF President, Issah Hayatou, at the Executive Committee meeting in Cairo on Wednesday, April 8, 2015.

The tournament was scheduled to be hosted by Libya until CAF rescinded its hosting rights in August 2014 due to political instability in the country.

The draw for the 31st edition of the 2017 Orange AFCON games is expected to be announced later on Wednesday.

Seven countries submitted a bid to host the tournament: Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

Only four of them, Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, and Ghana, were select by CAF to be submissive with the criteria for hosts. Later, Egypt withdrew its application.

Only the hosts will get an automatic qualification spot, the other 15 teams will qualify via a tournament.