By Administrator,

Its official Rwanda have announced they will not join hands with Kenya and Uganda as proposed but will submit an unilateral bid to host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, Sports and Culture Minister Joseph Habineza has confirmed.

Libya had won the bid but pulled out, citing the deteriorating security in the oil-rich North African state. The Confederation of African Football (Caf) later issued a statement inviting fresh bids.

The deadline for submission of bids is September 30.

“We are in consultations to see if Rwanda can host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations,” Habineza told Rwanda Today recently.

“I have notified Caf president Issa Hayatou of our intention and we believe Rwanda has the capacity to host a successful tournament.”

The development comes after Kenya announced they would submit a joint bid with Rwanda and Uganda to host the 2017 continental showpiece.

“I would actually advise that we look at a four-nation bid with Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania each hosting one group, since this is a 16-nation tournament, but only if Rwanda can’t be able to host the tournament,” added Habineza.

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) is pursuing the bid to host the tournament. FKF chairman Sam Nyamweya recently said that he had talked with Ferwafa chairman Vincent Nzamwita and his Ugandan counterpart, Fufa boss Moses Hassim Magogo, saying they backed his proposal and were willing to explore the opportunity of a joint bid. But Nzamwita denied the allegation.

“I have not heard anything from Nyamweya in regard to hosting the 2017 Afcon tourney,” said Nzamwita. “We just learnt of the joint bid suggestion from the media, but, as we speak, we are also working to see if we can bid for this tournament too.”

For the joint East African nations bid to be approved, government guarantee from the respective countries must be issued to Caf ascertaining the availability of accommodation, transport and hotel facilities as well as training sites and stadiums.

Stage a youth tournament

Another condition is that a host nation must have staged a youth tournament. That favours Rwanda since it has hosted two African Youth Championships — the Under-20 in 2009 and U-17 in 2011 and is preparing to host the 2016 African Nations Championship (Chan), a senior competition.

Should Rwanda bid to host the prestigious tournament, then the 101th ranked nation on Fifa rankings would emerge as the top candidate among its regional peers.

The 2016 Chan, which will be held in Kigali, will draw 16 African countries, the same number expected at the 2017 Afcon. Coming just a year before Afcon, Chan is the perfect dress rehearsal for the former, where all the infrastructure and facilities will be tested at a high level.

The government has a proven commitment to the development of sports not only in Rwanda but also on the regional level. For some time every year, President Paul Kagame has injected $75,000 in the Kagame Cecafa Club Cup championship, which is organised by the Council of East and Central Africa Football (Cecafa).

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com