CAF sets 2008 deadline

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has set 30 November as the deadline for bids to host the 2008 Nations Cup.

It is the Executive Committee of Caf that will decide which country will host the tournament.

A decision will be made next year, probably during one of Caf's executive meetings.

There are 13 members in the executive body including the Caf president.

Some countries have already shown interest to bid for 2008, but they are yet to make it official.

Algeria, Ghana and Ethiopia were the first to declare their interest.

Bids from Guinea, Cameroon and Senegal have only been speculative, although public interest is overwhelmingly in favour of staging the competition.

And if the political upheavals in both the Congo Democratic Republic and Ivory Coast improve, they will also join in the race.

Other bids are expected to reach the Cairo headquarters of Caf before the deadline.

Previously, the decision was made during the Caf Congress before the Nations Cup kick-off.

At the Congress, every national association voted for its favoured bid and the candidate with the highest count was given the hosting rights.

But due to late preparation of facilities by previous hosts, Caf decided in Bamako at the last Nations Cup to scrap the method.

Tunisia, who will stage the next Nations Cup from 24 January next year, was the first country to receive hosting rights, after a Caf executive meeting in Cairo two years ago.

The change was also prompted to award the competition to the candidates with the best existing facilities.

Caf wants to avoid the embarrassment of awarding the event to countries, who will be unable to raise good infrastructure to show to the rest of the world.