The Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has replaced Madagascar with Gabon as hosts of the Total U-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
CAF took the decision at its meeting on Friday after it withdrew the hosting rights from Madagascar following delays in preparations as demanded in the list of requirement.
The tournament, which was originally scheduled for April will now take place from May 21 to June 4, 2017.
Two countries had submitted bids to host the tournament, after the withdrawal, but after voting, Gabon polled eight votes against six for Sudan.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets are not taking part in the event after failing to qualify.
The then reigning world champions failed to progress to the final round of qualifiers after losing 2-3 to the Junior Menas of Niger Republic in August.
Meanwhile, Tanzania will be replacing Congo on the list of qualifiers for the competition, following a CAF Executive Committee decision to disqualify Congo with Tanzania as its replacement.
The Tanzania Football Association had filed a protest on the eligibility of Congolese player, Langa Bercy.
After several correspondences regarding the player in question, it was decided to carry out a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test in Cairo, Egypt.
However, the player never showed up, with a final ultimatum being issued for him to travel to Libreville to undergo the said test.
Yet again, Bercy failed to turn up, leading to Congo being disqualified.(NAN)
