By Admin,

Gabon were named on Wednesday as the hosts of the next African Nations Cup finals in 2017.

They beat rival bids from Algeria and Ghana in a vote by the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) executive committee at a meeting in Cairo.

Gabon replaces war-torn Libya, who withdrew last year as 2017 hosts because of the civil conflict raging in the country.

It will be the second time that the country will stage the finals after co-hosting the 2012 edition with neighbors Equatorial Guinea.

Gabon will use four venues for the 16-team tournament, set for January 2017.

They will be Libreville and Franceville, which were used in 2012, plus Port Gentil and Oyem where the stadiums will be ready in 14 months, Gabon Football Federation officials said.

All three candidate countries made presentations to the CAF executive committee on Wednesday before the ballot was taken.

CAF did not make details of the voting immediately available.

CAF have already designated the hosts of the 2019 (Cameroon), 2021 (Ivory Coast) and 2023 finals (Guinea).