Nigeria and Benin are likely to co-host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, according to Nigeria Football Federation President Amaju Pinnick.
Guinea have been awarded the hosting rights for the 2025 edition, however, the NFF boss disclosed that CAF is on course to withdraw the hosting right from the West African country.
Hence, Nigeria is working on a bid with the fellow West Africans.
“We are putting a bid together for a co-hosting of the tournament with the Benin Republic,” Pinnick told the media on Tuesday per Completesports.
“The Minister of Sports has given his endorsement on the bidding.
“It is high time Nigeria hosted an international tournament because there are many advantages attached to hosting of such competitions.
“There are many countries bidding for the competition; we are confident of getting the nod from Caf.
“We are working with the ministry of sports to ensure that Nigeria gets the hosting right.”
Nigeria have hosted the competition twice since its inception in 1957.
The first time was in 1980 and the second in 2000 when the country co-hosted with Ghana after Zimbabwe was sidelined by CAF for non-compliance with the tournament’s specifications.
Should CAF approve this hosting rights, it would mean that Benin would be welcoming the rest of Africa for the first time in their history.
The Squirrels have participated in AFCON on four occasions since their debut at Tunisia 2004 – with their best finish a quarter-final finish at the 2019 edition staged in Cameroon.
Recently, CAF confirmed that the 2023 AFCON was pushed to 2024 amid concerns over weather conditions in Cote d’Ivoire.
The move to shift the tournament is not the first time that Caf has been forced to readjust its plans.
It would be recalled that the tournament hosted in Cameroon early this year was moved from from its original date of 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic.
