Ghana stripped of 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations hosting rights

Caf president Ahmad Ahmad has confirmed that Ghana will no longer host the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations that a new host will be announced soon.  

Ghana won the bid to organise the event two years, naming capital Accra and Cape Coast as host cities, but a report from Caf inspectors revealed inadequate preparations, with less than three months to the tournament.  

Ghanaian authorities made proposals for the competition to be moved to Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi and Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium in Tamale, which are in ‘excellent’ conditions. Both alternatives were rejected by Caf.   

"Ghana is no more the host [for the tournament]. We are engaging several countries and should be able to announce a new host during the Caf Extraordinary General Assembly in Egypt next month," Ahmad told KweséESPN.

Kenya was initially approached to step in if Ghana failed to speed up preparations, but the country’s FA president Nick Mwendwa says they are no longer able to host the competition.

"Kenya have withdrawn interest in hosting the 2018 AWCON," Mwendwa told KweséESPN.

"We had expressed our interest in hosting the competition after learning that Ghana will not be able to host.

"Unfortunately, we seem to have only the Kasarani Stadium ready to host the competition, and yet two stadiums are required.

"We informed Caf on Saturday of the development and they also replied," he added.

Algeria, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa, Mali, Equatorial Guinea and Zambia are the countries who have qualified for the tournament.

The competition is scheduled to take place from November 17 to December 1.