Minister for Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah, says Ghana is ready to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations if the Confederation of African Football (CAF) settles on Ghana as host.
According to the Sports Minister, the current existing sporting facilities in the country which are of international standards puts Ghana in pole position to host the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations which was striped off Cameroon due to ill-preparedness as well as the political and civil unrest in the country.
Speaking to the media after inspecting the progress of work at the Youth Resource Center (Koforidua Sports Stadium) in the Eastern Region, Mr. Isaac Asiamah said he is confident Ghana has all the necessary requirements and facilities to host the rest of the continent in 2019.
“We handled a wonderful tournament with the Women’s AFCON,” he said.
“Ghana stands a good chance to host any CAF organised tournament; we are ready. Even if CAF says we should host the Cameroon one, we are ever ready.”
“Maybe they will say we have become too greedy because we just hosted one, but if the chance comes, I can confidently tell you that Ghana is ready,” he said.
Asked if the country will bid for the competition, Asiamah replied,”For now, that’s not our intention.”
CAF will name a new host for AFCON 2019 on January 9, after stripping Cameroon of hosting rights last month.
The competition will feature 24 teams and will take place between June and July 2019. So far, Morocco has come up strongly as the likely host.
Football activities in Ghana have come to a halt for several months following the investigative piece on football corruption by Journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, that led to the resignation and dismissal of top football officials and referees, leading to the formation of a Normalization committee by Fifa to run the country’s football and restore it to normalcy.