Though the host nation of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco, asked for a delay in the scheduling of Africa's top soccer event, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) not only rejected the request but sought to find a replacement, Inas Mazhar reports. CAF was considering another organiser after refusing the Moroccan request to change the dates of the competition. According to the CAF website, a letter which was sent to it by the Morocco Ministry of Youth and Sports was seeking a deferral of the schedule of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco 2015, fixed for 17 January to 8 February, due to the Ebola outbreak. “CAF has registered the request and wishes to state that there are no changes of the schedules of its competitions and events,” the statement said. “It must be noted that since the first edition in 1957, the Africa Cup of Nations has never experienced a deferral or a change in schedule. “CAF has also been cautions since the commencement of the final round qualifiers of the ACN on the health risks posed by the Ebola virus and has consistently applied precautionary principles, taking into account the recommendations of the World Health Organisation and various medical experts.” CAF has banned soccer in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea due to the outbreak. The explanation for its rejection of the Moroccan request is that these three countries are not playing in the tournament and the Moroccans can deny entry visas to fans from these countries wishing to attend the matches. The request by Morocco will be discussed at the next meeting of the CAF Executive Committee scheduled for 2 November in Algiers, Algeria, on the sidelines of the second leg of the 2014 Orange CAF Champions League final. Despite the CAF statement and other pronouncements from officials that Morocco would be severely penalised for withdrawing from hosting the event with only four months to go for the competition to kick off, Morocco still insists on changing the dates. Reports claim that in return CAF has threatened to ban Morocco from hosting any future CAF event as well as banning its teams from taking part in African competitions. Because money worth billions of dollars has been invested in this tournament from the selling of broadcasting rights of the three-week event, CAF is determined to hold the event on time whether the Moroccans organise it or not, and is actively drawing up a plan B. Accordingly, CAF started the search for a replacement by contacting those who were interested before in the event, especially South Africa, Egypt, Ghana and Algeria, or even new faces. But it is such short notice for another nation to step in, and expectedly apologies were sent to CAF one after the other for varying reasons, the biggest reason being that they would not be ready in time. As far as Egypt is concerned, it is impossible to hold it here. According to federation board member Hamada Al-Masri, Egypt can't host the Nations Cup and it is not ready for 2015 or even 2017 though it has applied to host the latter. The Moroccans on the other hand are trying to clean up their image which made them appear as the bad guys for wanting to withdraw from the event, though they insist they are just asking for a delay until the epidemic is contained. Morocco is among the nations cleared of the virus which has so far taken the lives of about 4,500 people. Moroccan Health Minister Houssaine Louardi was quoted as saying “football is just a game and we can't play with the health of Moroccans. There is no zero risk when it comes to Ebola”. Reports say Morocco, through its minister of information has denied that it has withdrawn as host of the ACN because of the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Moroccan government spokesman Mustapha Khalfi was quoted saying Morocco still wants the tournament, but simply wants to postpone it. On the other side, reports from Europe claim that European clubs might prevent African players from travelling to the Nations Cup. African football players who play on English Premier League clubs have been screened after returning from international matches with their nations, according to The Daily Mail. A Premier League official also told MailOnline that it had not issued any advice on Ebola because guidance was already available from health officials. He said it was up to each individual club to decide how best to look after their players. Meanwhile, African football national teams continue gearing up for the fifth round of the qualifications which is to take place by mid-November, after CAF meetings on 2 November regarding the status of the Nations Cup competition and its venue. Egypt is scheduled to take on Senegal on 15 November in Cairo. But Ebola has reportedly reached Senegal, meaning its team will be thoroughly checked upon arrival at Cairo Airport.
