Ghana will face a tough task in winning the rights to host of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations after Egypt threw their hat into the ring jettisoned by Libya.

Ghana were thought to be the overwhelming favourites to host the competition after Libya withdrew leaving Ethiopia and Kenya to also join in the race.

With the Ghanaians already having the facilities as they hosted the event as recently as 2008 they were seen as ahead of Kenya and Ethiopia who must build fresh facilities to meet the conditions of hosting the continental showpiece event.

However, Egyptian Football Association have now expressed their interest in bidding to host Afcon 2017 after they hosted the 2006 edition which means Ghana have a tough task.

Sources in EFA revealed they are keen to bid to host 2017 edition but they are yet to make a formal decision.

“It will be a honour for us to host the Afcon, as we are keen to host this event but we still need to talk with many ministries in the government,” EFA vice president, Hassan Farid, said.

Does Egypt ready?

Egypt, one of the few countries in Africa, have good facilities to host big events like Africa Cup of Nations.

The North African country have three stadia in Alexandria city and they are theAlexandria Stadium, Haras El Hedoud Stadium and Borg Al Arab Stadium. The last two stadia are owned by the Egyptian Army and they have high-level security.

Cairo has a number of big Stadia like the Cairo international Stadium, the Arab Contractors Stadium, the Military Academy stadium, the Air Defence Stadium. The last two stadia are owned by the Army. Al Ismailia city has one stadium and Aswan one.

Egypt has a good railway and good transportation system, and may face the problem of attendance of the fans.

The Egyptian stands do not see fans regularly since 2011 since the Egyptian revolution.

The Egyptian football officials and security officials are yet to throw the doors of matches open to fans to attend due to fear over security.

The Egyptian street

The Egyptian street is divided between who wants Egypt to host the tournament to tell the world that Egypt can still organize big events and that football can bring a good atmosphere in the country like it did in 2006.

Some Egyptians see it as not logical to host the tournament while the state suffers economically after three years in a bad situation.

Ongoing fighting in Libya forced them to withdraw from their plan of building stadia that made CAF invite new bidders for the tournament.