Morocco and Algeria will host tournaments for the Africa Cup of Nations

 Along with Zambia and a joint Nigeria-Benin bid, both nations are vying to host the top athletic event in Africa in 2025.

An announcement will be made on Wednesday in Cairo about the hosts of the 2025 and 2027 Africa Cup of Nations competitions, respectively.

Both, along with Zambia and a joint Nigeria-Benin bid, are vying to host the biggest sporting event in Africa in 2025.

Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, Senegal, and a joint challenge from Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda all entered the 2027 competition.

A top African Football Confederation (CAF) official told AFP that "the two hosts will definitely be named on September 27" after a series of dates passed without the announcement of the hosts.

After reviewing independent assessments of each 2025 and 2027 candidate, the executive committee will vote, but politics and the promise of regional rotation have complicated things.

Algeria and Morocco are neighbours in North Africa, and their political rivalry recently spilled over into the sport of football.

The team representing the kingdom in the 2022/2023 African Nations Championship (CHAN) for home-based players was forced to withdraw due to a ban on Moroccan planes flying over Algeria.

When its request to go immediately to Algeria was denied, Morocco, who had won the previous two tournaments, boycotted the competition, removing a favourite for the title.

Both nations are equipped to host Cup of Nations competitions of the highest calibre thanks to their first-rate infrastructure, stadia, and populations of soccer enthusiasts.

However, both would desire to host in 2025, with top Moroccan and CAF official Fouzi Lekjaa stirring up controversy in the middle of the year by informing local politicians that the kingdom would be chosen.

He was quoted by domestic media as saying that "when Morocco wins the organisation, the Fes stadium will have the honour of hosting CAN (Cup of Nations) 2025 matches."

Patrice Motsepe, the millionaire president of the CAF and a South African, is well aware of the political rivalry between the countries.

"We must refrain from interfering in the conflict between Algeria and Morocco. During the CHAN tournament, he stated that CAF shouldn't ever get involved in politics.

Motsepe has praised both nations' organisational skills, noting that they have each hosted the Cup of Nations once—Morocco in 1988 and Algeria in 1989.

According to him, Morocco has frequently and flawlessly hosted important events, while the CHAN in Algeria this year was the best ever.

The Cup of Nations should be hosted by each region, according to Motsepe, who stated this at the CHAN: "We cannot assign the organisation of the CAN successively to the same region."

Regional rotation may not always be viable, CAF Secretary General Veron Mosengo-Omba said a few months later.

Only five or six of the 54 CAF members can seek to host the African Cup at the moment. As a result, it won't be able to make this change, he stated.

What started as a three-team competition in 1957 has grown to a 24-nation competition that includes players like Mohamed Salah, Victor Osimhen, Andre Onana, Sadio Mane, and Hakim Ziyech.

A minimum of six stadiums are required for hosts, including two that can hold at least 40,000 spectators and four that can hold 20,000 or more.

The 2023/2024 Cup of Nations will take place in Ivory Coast and has been moved from June and July of this year to January and February of next year to avoid the rainy season.