Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Jan 23 (IANS): The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has said that the hosts for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) will be announced April 8 in Cairo.
According to a statement from the continental football body Thursday, Algeria, Egypt, Gabon and Ghana are competing to replace strife-riven Libya who will not go ahead with their hosting of the finals for security concerns, reports Xinhua.
The CAF also announced that the host nation will play games in the qualifiers, but their matches will be friendlies and won't have points on offer.
The qualifiers will begin in June, and the 52 competing countries and regions will go straight into 13 groups of four teams each.
The top team in each group and the two best second-place teams will reach the main tournament.
The CAF also said that the African qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup will begin in October.