Republique du Benin and Nigeria have successfully submitted a joint bid for the hosting rights of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations initially awarded to Guinea but later withdrawn due to the coup d’etat in that country and also their unreadiness to host the contingent major football competition.
This is the first time Republique du Benin will be attempting to stage the competition.
After months of speculation and the interest to host by other African countries the Benin football Federation and Nigeria Football Federation finally tabled their joint bids,.
Even though the FBF and NFF are yet to officially announce their candidacy, it is the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) that made the revelation.
In Cairo, Egypt, headquarters of CAF, to submit his country’s candidacy files, FAF President Salah Bey Aboud announced that Benin and Nigeria have submitted a joint file, in addition to Morocco also in the race to host the tournament.
“I am currently in Cairo and I have just officially submitted Algeria’s candidacy file for AFCON 2025.” Aboud disclosed this to a Radio station in Algeria.
“Nigeria and Benin have submitted a joint file in addition to the Moroccan file.” He added.
The closing date for submitting applications is set for this Friday, December 16, 2022.
South Africa, Senegal and Zambia are the other candidates to formalize their candidacy.
As indicated by CAF, member associations wishing to host the competition will have until December 16 to submit the final offer, which includes all the application and organization documents (organisation agreement, with the host cities, government guarantees), while the inspection visits will take place between January 5 and 25, 2023.
According to CAF, the host country will be announced at the headquarters of CAF in Cairo on the 10th of February 2023.