Nigeria and its West African neighbour Benin Republic have submitted a joint bid to host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), a source close to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has confirmed.
Nigeria is yet to host the football showpiece since the 2000 edition which they co-hosted with Ghana, while Benin Republic has never staged a major tournament finals.
According to BBC Sport Africa, a top official of the NFF said that the federation completed all the necessary processes, and officially submitted a bid to the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) before the December 16 deadline.
“Having completed all the processes, we submitted our bid before the Confederation of African Football (Caf) deadline of 16 December,” the source said to BBC.
The statement added: “The NFF will be sharing more information on the bid to stage the tournament in the coming weeks.”
Nigeria, who last hosted the finals of a major international tournament in 2009, which was the Under-17 World Cup, and Benin, would be prepared to convince the CAF officials when inspections begin from January 5 to 25 next year.
The bid to host the 2025 AFCON was reopened a few months ago after initial hosts Guinea was stripped of the hosting rights, with CAF citing the inability of the country to meet the deadline to get facilities ready for the tournament.
The West African nation is currently struggling with political instability following a military junta that ousted former civilian president Alpha Coundé in September 2021.
Meanwhile, Nigeria faces a stiff competition from other countries including Zambia, Algeria, Morocco and South Africa, who have all expressed their interest in hosting the finals, with the winner expected to be named in February next year.
In a October report, Peoples Gazette reviewed the five key tasks undercut Nigeria’s push to host Africa Cup of Nations after 22 years.
The three-time Africa champions have lost AFCON hosting bids four times in 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2019, but would be looking to overturn the outcome this time around.
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