CAF bans Guinea from hosting AFCON clash against Ghana in Conakry

Published on: 21 September 2014
CAF bans Guinea from hosting AFCON clash against Ghana in Conakry
Guinea have been banned from hosting Ghana in the AFCON qualifier in Conakry

Ghana's away match against Guinea in next month's 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier will be played at a neutral venue after CAF ruled on Saturday that bans on three countries from hosting matches will stay in place because of Ebola fears.

CAF's executive committee decided on Saturday that bans on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone hosting any international matches because of fears of spreading Ebola will be maintained.

This means Guinea's clash with the Black Stars scheduled for 10 October will be played at a neutral venue robbing the Sylli National from getting home support for the game.

The match is expected to played in Morocco where Guinea played their previous match against Togo this month.

The three west African countries – at the epicentre of the outbreak of the highly contagious disease – had originally been banned from hosting all games until mid-September but that has now been extended indefinitely, CAF announced.It means Guinea and Sierra Leone must again move scheduled African Nations Cup qualifiers to alternate venues next month.Guinea had to play its opening group game against Togo in Morocco earlier this month and also last weekend staged an under-17 qualifying tie in Casablanca.

Sierra Leone could not find an alternate venue for their qualifier against the Democratic Republic of Congo 10 days ago and instead ceded home advantage to their opponents.

Liberia have no scheduled international matches in the near future.

Ebola has infected at least 5,357 people in West Africa this year, mainly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, killing 2,630 of those, according to the World Health Organisation. The disease has also been reported in Nigeria and Senegal but these two countries have not been banned from holding games by CAF.

The epidemic has brought sport to a complete standstill in both Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Guinea were ironically on Saturday named as a future host of the Nations Cup finals in 2023 at the same meeting of CAF’s executive committee in the Ethiopian capital.

Teams from the affected countries were also subjected to vigorous checks before being allowed to play matches in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ivory Coast and Uganda earlier this month.

Sierra Leone had a walkover in their Nations Cup playoff tie when the Seychelles refused them entry because of fears over spreading the virus.

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