Ghana are the defending champions of the Africa Youth Championship

South Africa are ready to take Libya’s place as the host nation for the 2011 African Youth Championship this month, SAFA chairman Kirsten Nematandani has revealed.

This means if CAF agrees to host the tournament in South Africa, Ghana U20 team the Black Satellites will defend their title there.

A request from African football ruling body CAF was accepted by the 2010 World Cup hosts, amid the political unrest in Libya.

South Africa Football Association (SAFA) boss Nematandani says they have all the facilities to hit the ground running.

“We are satisfied that we have the ability and capabilities to host such an event at short notice,” SAFA chief Nematandani said.

“In any case, the World Cup 2010 has left a massive legacy in terms of infrastructure and it was a question of agreeing to host or not.

“We discussed the issue of the cost factor involved in hosting the event and also, we sought assurance from CAF that we did not have to go into bidding with anyone to host the event.

“We have been assured that will not be the case, hence we went ahead to make arrangements.”

Algeria have also claimed their readiness to host the tournament which will see four African nations qualify for the 2011 U-20 World Cup in Colombia this summer.

However, South Africa remain the number one candidate to replace Libya as the atmosphere in Algeria is also far from stable.

Should South Africa be confirmed as the competition’s hosts by CAF, they will automatically replace Libya in Group A, along with Egypt, Lesotho and Mali.