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‘It’ll be hard for Nigeria and Benin to win AFCON 2025 bids’ – Alhassan Yakmut
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
Former Director General of the National Sports Commission, Alhassan Yakmut says it would be very hard for Nigeria to beat Algeria or Morocco for the 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) hosting right.
Nigeria and Benin Republic have submitted a joint bid for tournament hosting rights, with Confederation of African Football (CAF) officials inspecting the stadia shortlisted for the tournament in both countries.
The West African nations will be hoping to win the hosting right ahead of Morocco, Algeria, and Zambia and the former Nigeria Sports Commission boss explained his perceived stumbling blocks to the successful bidding.
“We wouldn’t have challenges meeting the requirements because how many countries in Africa have better facilities and technological requirements in terms of ICT and telecommunication? Nigeria had all these things in place and also had previous hosting experience.” Yaktmut told Brila FM.
“The facilities in Algeria and Morocco are enjoying very good maintenance and it hasn’t been too long since they hosted tournaments including the All African Games.
“I would suggest if those are the countries that we are contesting with, then we should submit a qualitative presentation that is not less than the distinction in percentage. Otherwise, Algeria and Morocco would be a very tough and herculean task.”
CAF inspectors had recently checked out the stadia and related facilities that Nigeria has put forward in a joint bid with Benin Republic to host the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in the year 2025.
Evaluated stadia are the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja; Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo; Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba; Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos; Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City and; Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna.
