Zimbabwe in hot race to host AFCON 2017

ZIMBABWE is among seven countries that have submitted bids to host the 2017 African Nations Cup as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) seeks a replacement for Libya.

CAF confirmed on Tuesday confirmed that Zimbabwe Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya and Sudan all met the September 30 deadline to submit their plans for the tournament and confirm their interest in hosting it.

"The host country will be decided by the CAF Executive Committee during one of its sessions in 2015," CAF said in a brief statement.

The continent's governing bodies have stated that the winning bid will be from a country that will have little need to improve infrastructure and should be ready to host immediately.

Of those bidding, Zimbabwe and Kenya have not hosted tournaments before, though both have had winning bids. South Africa replaced Kenya as 1996 hosts after the east African nation fell behind in its preparations while Nigeria and Ghana co-hosted in place of Zimbabwe in 2000 due to a lack of funding. Zimbabwe which will host the Africa Zone V youth games in December this year hopes to capitalize on revamped infrastructure to justify its bid which will certainly be vetted on availability of sporting facilities. Online