NOT ONE or two but the next three host countries for the Africa Cup of Nations have been selected. Inas Mazhar was at CAF headquarters for the surprise announcement. Angola was named as the host nation of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon will co-host the 2012 edition while Libya will host the 2014 Nations Cup. Only Nigeria, the most experienced in both organisation and football culture was left behind. Nigeria has been designated as a substitute organising country that would take the place of any country unable to fulfill its commitments. CAF, the African federation, is also supporting Nigeria's bid to host the FIFA World Cup U-17 in 2009, which FIFA has allocated to Africa. Nigeria notwithstanding, other countries have gone back home carrying a piece of the cake. The four delegations made their presentations earlier on the day in CAF headquarters in Cairo in front of a 13-man executive committee. The presentations were made in alphabetical order starting with Angola and ending with Nigeria. Each delegation was given 20 minutes to make its presentation before answering questions from the executive committee members for 10 minutes. Prior to the presentations, the delegates met with CAF President Eissa Hayatou, who wished them luck and told them of the intention to name three winners for three different editions. Then the CAF executives met for an hour to study the files again and make their final presentations which was delivered by Hayatou who explained why CAF decided to make three announcements. "The Executive Committee of the African Football Confederation, at its meeting in Cairo on 4 and 5 September, studied a plan for the long-term development of African football and in particular for the improvement of the infrastructures for sports on the continent. It also examined the candidacies for the organisation of the African Cup of Nations. "The examination of the presentations and reports by the inspection group which visited the five candidate countries -- Libya, Gabon / Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Angola -- proved that all candidates had fulfilled the requirements and have fully respected the specifications." 'The African Cup of Nations has become a major international sporting event and a competition at a very high level. Today, the planning of its organisation also requires activities for the construction or renovation of the necessary infrastructures (stadiums, hotels, airports, transport by road and air, telecommunications and health). The same applies to every aspect concerning media coverage, the audiovisual elements, and marketing operations," Hayatou said. "Indeed, TV and marketing rights are the necessary means required in order to mobilise the important financial resources indispensable for the organisation of the competitions, for the proper function of the structures, and for the development of football in Africa. "It is a proven fact that CAF's top-ranking competition generates considerable development efforts in the organising countries, mainly in the field of infrastructure, it creates experience in the managing of competitions and brings about the widespread support which is indispensable for the proper functioning and the development of this discipline. "All the activities required to prepare and to organise at its best the African Cup of Nations take up significant time and need considerable financial and material resources. Therefore it is not just useful but rather indispensable for the organising countries to set deadlines corresponding to the objectives. These should be no shorter than six years. "This procedure is an integral part of CAF's new policy for the development and the commercialisation of the competitions. This requires the implementation of contracts for a minimum period of six years, spanning three editions of the African Cup of Nations. This will allow the owners of the TV and marketing rights to become acquainted early enough with the venues of the competitions and to fine-tune their commercial and broadcasting strategies. "Therefore, with the intention of implementing this policy, of consolidating the incipient development actions, and in order to guarantee the success of the highest and most prestigious African competition, the executive committee, after consultations and in agreement with the countries concerned, has decided unanimously to award the organisation of the coming editions of the African Cup of Nations for the years 2010, 2012 and 2014," Hayatou said. CAF Secretary-General Mostafa Fahmi told Al-Ahram Weekly that they expect the hosts to be punctual in their work, to start working immediately "because now everyone has enough time to prepare his nation to host the Africa Cup of Nations." The Angolans celebrated after the announcement. The country emerged from what was the longest civil war in Africa in 2002. Four years later, they stunned the world by appearing at the World Cup in Germany 2006. "We are glad to win the 2010 edition. We made a good presentation and have already started working," said Justino Fernandes, chairman of the Angolan bid committee. "We haven't only been chosen because of our football development in just a short period, but because we also have good facilities and you can ask the inspection committee which had just made its final visit to the bidding nations how prepared we are," said Antonio Manegueira, the first vice president of the Angolan federation. Equatorial Guinea and Gabon were not so happy about co- hosting the 2012 edition. "We came here for 2010 and planned for it. Anyway, we are still winners by hosting the 2012 edition," said Abebe Leon, president of the Gabonaise Football Federation. Before the presentations, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon were an outside bet. Earlier this year Gabon pulled out of hosting the Women's Cup of Nations due to "organisational problems" which did not sound promising. The two countries are proposing two venues in each country -- Bata and Malabo in Equatorial Guinea, and Libreville and Port Gentil in Gabon. Equatorial Guinea is a former Spanish colony, while Gabon was colonised by the French. The different languages could create another layer of bureaucracy or even misunderstanding. Neither country has hosted before. Both countries are oil exporters. Libya was awarded the 2014 edition of the Africa Nations Cup after losing out three times in the past to Tunisia, Egypt and Ghana, the 2008 hosts. Libya hosted the tournament just once, in 1982 when there were only eight teams as opposed to the 16 now. Ali Feteit, a member of the Libyan delegation, said that while they too had wanted the 2010 edition they accept CAF's decision and will be working on staging one of the best editions. The Nigerians were disappointed. Minister of sports Bala Kaojle said they had wanted 2010 because they were preparing their team for the World Cup in 2010 in South Africa. The Nigerian chairman of the bid, Lemombo, said they were prepared for 2010 and that being a reserve country wasn't fair. "Hosting the 2009 FIFA under-17 World Cup can't be a compensation," he said. Nigeria has hosted the tournament twice, in 1980 and co- hosted with Ghana in 2000. They also hosted the under-20 World Cup in 1999. They've also won the tournament twice and have a very strong football culture. But Hayatou said he believed awarding the tournament to a country without established infrastructure forces governments to build facilities that remain at the disposal of the football community.
