Benin and Nigeria have joined Algeria, Morocco, and Zambia in expressing interest in hosting the Africa Cup of Nations in 2025 by submitting a combined bid.
A joint attempt by Benin and Nigeria to host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations
Nigeria, which has won the African championship three times, is aiming to host the event for a third time after co-hosting with Ghana in 2000 and acting alone in 1980.
According to a top official of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), "having finished all the requirements, we submitted our candidacy before the Confederation of African Football (Caf) deadline of December 16."
In the upcoming weeks, the NFF will provide additional details about their candidacy to host the competition. Nigeria, who had won on home soil 42 years prior, fell to Cameroon in the 2000 Nations Cup final in what was primarily seen as a successful competition.
Nigeria last hosted a significant event in 2009 when it hosted the Under-17 World Cup. In addition, Nigeria hosted the Under-20 World Cup in 1999. However, Nigeria and Benin have work to do to persuade the Caf inspection teams.
They travel to the candidate nations from January 5 to 25 of the following year and are serious about taking the position of Guinea. However, Guinea was denied the honor of serving as designated host earlier this year due to infrastructure and facility constraints that Nigeria also faces.
Nigeria has frequently struggled to locate a suitable stadium to host the Super Eagles. The only site of the Caf Confederation Cup final last season, and the renovated Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, was in Uyo.
While dozens of other stadiums in Nigerian cities have become "white elephants," the Lagos National Stadium, which hosted the0 final, is currently undergoing renovation, underscoring the trend of poor maintenance in the nation.
African governing body Caf has set requirements for the event's staging, including at least six stadiums, two of which must have a minimum seating capacity of 40,000 people. In contrast, the other four must have a minimum total of 20,000.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is grappling with rising inflation, unemployment, power outages, and an unprecedented wave of various. Still, overlapping security concerns as the country's general elections in 2023 draw near.
Nearly every region of the nation has experienced crime and bloodshed, from kidnapping to extremist insurgencies. So after Nigeria lost its 2022 World Cup qualification play-off against arch-rivals Ghana, there was turmoil inside the Abuja stadium.
The field was invaded, the dugouts were turned upside down, and foreign spectators, players, and officials were attacked with projectiles. Critics of Nigeria's candidacy contend that the nation should have only made one application to host the continent's premier event.
The Stade de l'Amitié, which can hold 20,000 people, is one of Benin's most noteworthy stadiums. In contrast, the Stade Charles de Gaulle in the nation's capital, Porto-Novo, can only house 13,000 people.
