Soccer News of Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Source: BBC

Libya remain hosts of 2013 Nations Cup - Caf

CAF is waiting and watching before making a decision on Libya 2013 The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has said Libya is still scheduled to host the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013.

But other options are also being considered because of the ongoing violence in the country.

Rebels fighting to overthrow Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi control much of the east of the country.

"Of course we are thinking about it as a matter of priority," Caf secretary-general Hicham El Amrani told the BBC.

"All the tournaments that Libya has agreed to host - not only the Africa Cup of Nations but also the CHAN [African Nations Championship] and the Futsal Championship next year are today still [to be] held in Libya.

All the tournaments Libya has agreed to host are today still to be held in Libya Hicham El Amrani

Caf secretary-general "At the same time the Caf executive committee is thinking about plan bs or plan cs.

"We agreed an internal timeline [for the] latest moment at which we should decide on switching the tournament to another venue but as of today the Nations Cup of 2013 is still in Libya."

El Amrani did not want to make the timescale public but pointed out that Caf's executive committee is due to meet in September this year.

Caf has already had experience of moving a tournament from Libya, having been forced to switch the African U20 event to South Africa earlier this year.

"It was a challenge; when it became clear that it was impossible to organise it, we only had about five weeks to look for another host," El Amrani added.

"We were grateful to have South Africa ready to host - they did a terrific job