The Confederation of African Football (CAF) yesterday announced that Zambia has withdrawn her rights to host the U-23 African Cup of the Nations in 2019.

It has been revealed that, the Government could not fund the tournament, hence threw away the white towel.

After successfully hosting the 2017 U-20 Africa Africa Cup of the nations, it was expected that the gates were now open for Zambia to play hosts to other bigger tournaments.

The Republican President Edger Chagwa Lungu even approached former CAF President, Issa Hayatou to award Zambia the rights to host the senior AFCON should any of the already allocated countries fails to.

The U-23 Africa Cup of the Nations is utilized as a qualifier to the Olympics games. With Zambia’s withdrawal, the hosting rights are now up for grabs.